September 25, 2012

Hello Family! First off, we had some great experiences this past week haha! Every Friday we do a service project here at el CCM. We go to the same building every week and we work under the direction of a girl named Dallas Taylor Stringham--her name is important! So, this week they tell us "Hey, we need twenty Elders to bring some water up from the basement and switch it out with the new water bottles we have upstairs." So Dallas gets 10 of us Elders in the elevator with her. We're going down when...suddenly...boom. We hit the bottom floor. The elevator doesn't make a sound. The door doesn't open. We were stuck in the basement! HAHA. It was so great. 11 of us crammed in a small elevator. We were there for forty minutes! And I really needed to go to the bathroom. But that's something I'll never forget--we ended up just talking with Dallas the whole time. She asked us to share gospel lessons with her in our language, so that's what we did for forty minutes in an elevator: teach the gospel! Now, if you want to see a picture of our elevator extravaganza, you can go to Dallas Taylor Stringham's Facebook page. She took a picture of all of us in the elevator and promised she'd put it on her Facebook page. I thought you'd like that Mom ;) Also, this past week Elder Acor and I finally had some success with one of our progressive investigators. His name is Li (as portrayed by my teacher Hermano Finley) and he's an old man, a Jehovah's Witness, very interested in religion but not very committing. He'd been really hard on us since our very first visit! Elder Acor and I had no idea what to teach him. But last Friday and Saturday we both did a lot of pondering, and went in to our lesson with Li that night WITHOUT any plan, but with a lot of thoughts. And it was the best, most powerful lesson we've had at any time here in el CCM. We addressed him directly and found out more of his concerns with the gospel. We jumped into the Bible and The Book of Mormon, and our mouths and minds were filled--I don't know if my Spanish has ever been better either! We taught him about how to recognize when you've received confirmation to your prayers, and how we should pray. Then we addressed his religious concerns which were along the lines of "Who is Jehovah? Isn't He THE God? Isn't Adam also Jesus Christ?" So we had a great lesson, and we left it feeling very edified. And after when we talked with Hermano Finley about it he said he felt like it was the best-planned lesson we'd had--and we hadn't even gone in with a written, communicated plan! We just tried to follow the things the Spirit had told us to do. So finally, some success in progressive investigator! We also do a weekly teaching here called the TRC, where we go as companionships to the Teaching Resource Center and teach people who walk on campus as volunteers. This week Elder Acor and I taught a converted woman from Bolivia named Justa (sounds like Hoosta). She was so cool! She was something like 68 years old, and spoke incredibly fast Spanish! But we were able to teach her and understand a lot of what she said. She reminded me a lot of Shayna haha she smiled just like her! She was a Latin-American, older version of Shayna, which I thought was pretty cool! Alright, funny story of the week. Hermana Eyring served her mission in Uruguay, and she just got back in December. So we were asking her questions about her mission: so I asked her the above question "Did you see any exotic animals in Uruguay?" I asked, expecting her to tell us all about monkeys or something. But she said--excitedly and completely serious--"I didn't see any monkeys or big lizards or anything, but I got to pet a horse!" She was so serious, it was hilarious! We all burst out laughing, and she laughed with us cause she realized how funny it had sounded. It may not be too funny to you, but it was hilarious to us. I had a bit of a break out moment with Spanish this past week. We've finished all our assigned Spanish lessons, so now we're just doing a lot of review. I've been going through the dictionary and other books in an attempt to learn as much vocabulary as possible. In saying that, I still don't feel (entirely) ready to speak with natives in two weeks. But, just two more weeks left her in el CCM! I can't explain how excited I am to get to Puerto Rico. The only other news I can think to tell you about is that we finally got new roommates last week. Elder Acor and I had a whole room to ourselves for 3 weeks and sadly it had to come to an end. But our new roommates are alright--we get along with them fine. One of them is from Indiana and the other is from North Carolina. They're very different--one is a bit feminine and the other is very masculine, and I think he went to boot camp or something before coming here. He's cool. But they make our room stink, and guess what: I don't even have that good of a sense of smell! Haha oh well, it's not a big deal! Things here are going to go by faster than I think they will. Well, that's all I have for this week. I think that's all I had written down to tell you about too. My testimony is strengthened every day I'm here, and I'm growing to really love this work more than I thought I could, and I know that I still have a lot of room to grow in the coming two years! Haha. Well, I love you all! Elder Cevering P.S. The Ipod and speakers are not allowed here at el CCM...but I listened for a minute just to make sure they work. They work great! Haha. My departure date is the 9th, but we don't know the times yet, and wash here is going well! haha I do it every week. But that's all I have time to say. Love ya!

Email September 18, 2012

Hello Family! Well, it's officially been six weeks here in el CCM--I am really hoping to go to the Dominican this week :) but we highly doubt that's going to happen. If it doesn't, things here will be fine! We're good friends with our district and we're mostly happy with this routine, so it won't be terrible. I think I want to go to the DR because I want the Spanish immersion. I know though that I don't receive everything I want, but the Lord gives me everything I need. Alright, Spanish: let's just say, this past week was the hardest week of Spanish yet! We studied the Subjunctive Tense--it's essentially a tense that we NEVER use in English, but is entirely required in most other languages. It's used to express "Unseen" or "Unreal" things like doubts, emotions, etc. It also requires completely different verb conjugating. It's really hard! And I think it's hard because we had already learned so much in Spanish, just to find out we now have to start speaking it in an entirely different tense. I spent at least 5 hours between Thursday and Friday studying it. That may not sound like a lot of time between two days, but for the MTC that's a lot of time to study one thing. It's really hard, but I'm getting it down. I'm able to use it pretty proficiently. It's easier to understand on paper than to speak it without thinking. But I'm really learning Spanish! Subjunctive was the last thing we had to learn here, so now we'll just be reviewing everything we've learned for the next three weeks. I'm going to try really hard to speak the best I can. I feel quite confident in it. A lot of funny things happen here when we speak in Spanish. For example, in sacrament meeting this past week one of the missionaries was giving a talk on repentance. We always give talks in Spanish, as a side note. But as he was speaking, he was trying to say "Yo se que yo puedo recibir perdonado por mis pecados" which means "I know I can receive forgiveness for my sins." But what he actually said was "Yo se que yo puedo recibir perdonado por mis pescados" and pescados means fish :) HAHA we laughed so hard. We have a lot of stories like that. It's really funny to learn a different language. Another story: when one of the Elders in my district was teaching his progressive investigator he tried to tell her that the church makes him happy, which would be said like this in Spanish "La Iglesia me hace feliz!" But what he actually said was "La Iglesia me hace facil!" And facil means easy...HAHA! Oh man. The trials of learning a language can be so funny sometimes. Every Sunday and Tuesday night we have a devotional, and this past Sunday was awesome. The speaker was W. Tracy Watson, who is the director of all Proselyting missions. He showed us a part of The Book of Mormon musical, and we were all silent at the end of the short clip. I felt terrible, as I'm sure many others did as well. The clip basically took missionaries and made us look gay, overzealous, and truly like a bunch of psychos. They made a mockery of The Book of Mormon--a book that you and I love. I wondered why Brother Watson would share that clip--and he got up after and asked "How come you're not laughing like the audience in this clip?" Then he went on to bare testimony of how he, as a student, never knew how to read. But by a great miracle, by opening the pages of The Book of Mormon and attempting to study it, he received the ability to read. His testimony was really powerful. The world can say whatever it wants about The Book of Mormon--I'd advise you not to indulge in anything they say. As the Bible says "Ye cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils" (1 Corinthians 10:21). If you want to know The Book of Mormon is true, go to the truth and FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF. I love the book--and I love having the opportunity to study it daily, teach from it in Spanish and in English, and to draw power from it every day here in el CCM when my mind feels ready to collapse from the stress. The only way to know if something is from God is to sincerely desire to know if it is, and sincere desire does not come simply from WANTING. It comes from humbling ourselves in order to accept whatever the answer will be. I know that The Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God--not because I was taught what was in it, but because I have been blessed from it. Because I have been the recipient of its true power. It's either the greatest fraud, or the greatest book ever written. When paired with the Bible it will confound all falsehoods. Thank you for all your support! I love and miss you! Elder Cevering

More Pictures from the MTC

Pictures from the MTC

Pictures from the MTC

September 11, 2012

September 11, 2012 Hello Family! Well, this was a rougher week! I finally broke that barrier we call "crying" here in the MTC haha so did most everyone in my district though. It was our toughest week as a District for sure! We have teachers, and then we have zone resource teachers, and they each do one-on-one talks, and then companionship discussions concerning our lessons. This week I had my first meeting with a zone resource teacher. Her name is Hermana Doxey: she's really great! All the elders in my district are in love with her haha they try to get her to help them all the time. But, anyway, she set up an appointment with me just so we could talk. And I thought "Great! I have some Spanish questions I really need answered!" We've been learning some tougher grammatic principles that I needed help on! Well, I go into the appointment and she gets talking. She kept it on a very personal level--what's been hard about the MTC? how is your companionship? how do you feel about this and that? And, eventually, as we finished discussing some things, I broke the tear barrier haha and I let out some of my frustrations to her. She was really understanding! I was really grateful for the discussion. I didn't even know I had that much emotion in myself, though I knew I was stressed. I promise you though that I'm doing fine! No tears since, and I don't plan on having more. Last night Elder Acor and I taught our "investigator" Li. HAY MUCHACHO!! We haven't decided if it was successful or not. We went in with the plan to talk more about The Book of Mormon, and ended up explaining a lot of things to him about it. But he was really pushing our Spanish by acting like he didn't understand a lot of things in The Book of Mormon: names, places, and all these things! I was really frustrated because I didn't know how to say so many things, and eventually I just looked down at my Spanish Book of Mormon and thought for a minute. Then I looked up and bore my testimony to him that The Book of Mormon contains all the answers we need to our questions. I told him about the experiences I had with prayer and scripture study when we thought dad might have had cancer. He began to cry, and though I was frustrated and confused by the language, the Spirit was there. Again, we don't really know how successful this lesson was, but we are hoping that at least our testimonies were enough to create some progress. Hermano Finley--who acts as Li--had a talk with me the other day, before this lesson, where we talked about Progressive Investigator. I knew he was going to make it hard on us. Do you remember that missionary in my district who believes God creates aliens, according to the multitude of his "mysteries?" Well, we had quite the week with him again. I can honestly say I've never met a person I did not understand more than this elder. This week we learned from him that his patriarchal blessing says he is "bullet proof." Elder Acor and I also taught him about exaltation, and he just sat and argued with us about it. Basically everyone in the district is annoyed with him, and he is definitely the cause of a lot of turmoil among us ten elders. He is a weight lifter and, apparently, a cage fighter, among other things. He eats "healthy" haha I wish I could remember what it was he was eating the other day. But he always tells someone how unhealthy they're eating, and how he eats according to the food pyramid. He'll point out that on his plate he has 1-fries, which meets his needs for starch and vegetable, 2-chicken nuggets, which meets his need for meat, 3-an apple, which meets his need for fruit...ON and on. Then he'll eat a salad one day and he'll say "I need to get some real food." But the funny thing is, he doesn't eat healthy. We have another elder in our district--Elder Larson--- who has to eat healthy because of his kidneys, and whenever this elder who is a cage fighter says we're eating unhealthy we just direct him to Elder Larson who has grape nuts cereal and other food and ask him why he doesn't eat the same if he's so health conscious. It's so crazy. I wish I could explain in greater detail the things that this elder does. Ummm...I can't think of much else that has happened this week. Elder Acor got a package from the primary this week haha and in it there was a picture from one of the kids. The kid had drawn Elder Acor in this big swirling purple thing, and in letters below it said "I drew a hurricane, hope you're okay!" HAHA very funny. I can't wait to get to Puerto Rico. We talked with one of the teachers who served there and just recently got back this December. He told us a lot of cool stories, and he told us that it's basically impossible to NOT get out to the islands, but that you can only stay on one for six weeks because of visas. Well, I love you all! I know that God is aware of each of us--and He knows what we are doing. I know that the only way to please Him is by living His commandments. As Christ said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Please pray for me to increase in faith! The Lord is mindful of all our prayers. Love Elder Cevering

September 4, 2012

September 4, 2012 Hello Family! I've learned some pretty cool things in just my past week of study. For example: I had a thought once when I was singing a hymn about Joseph Smith, and that thought was "Did people in past dispensations sing songs about their prophets?" I don't really know the answer to that question, but I had a great doctrinal insight about it. Beginning with chapter 4 of The Book of Mormon we have Nephi talking to Laman and Lemuel about Moses--who is their dispensatory prophet. Well, if you look up the word Moses in the topical guide and follow the references listed, you will find some cool testimonies about Moses. So I guess what I've learned is that in the same way the Spirit testifies of Joseph Smith as a prophet to us, it also bore testimony of the divine calling of Moses to those of his dispensation. I have some other cool thoughts about the scriptures that come straight from Spanish substitutes for things in the scriptures. I can't think of the ones I had written down, so I'll write them and send them home. It's cool how the scriptures translate: you just get new insights on simple words. We never receive doctrinal instruction from our teachers. They only teach us Spanish and the fundamentals of teaching. All the doctrine we learn comes from personal commitment in reading the scriptures, and from lessons we have at either firesides or on Sundays. In my case, I'm blessed to have the knowlege I have because I can focus more time on learning the language, while others have to really put their noses to the pages. Besides that, I loved grandpa's letter he sent me! It was very uplifting. I'm also very grateful for the letter Julie sent about two weeks ago. Uncle Paul sent me an email also, for which I was grateful. He made me laugh. I haven't been good at remembering to tell you these things. But I was very grateful for all the personal letters I received. Ok so week 4 is over! It was really not very eventful, but I'll tell you what I can! First off, we had a HUGE tie trade night. I have some really nice new ties! The Elders here argued over the orange paisley tie you sent me mom haha I got something good for that one! I kept all ties I was given as gifts before I left, so don't worry! But I traded those that I had bought on my own. When I get the opportunity to send you pictures, you'll get some of me in some sweet new corbatas! (corbata is Spanish for tie) The title of this week's letter comes from a great conversation we had. Elder Perrenoud's girlfriend always sends him letters that she sprays in perfume, and the Elders here LOVE it! haha. But Elder Perrenoud left yesterday, so one of the Elder's in my district said: "Will you give me her address? I just want some smell goods..." HAHA. I'm finally getting respect as a basketball player :) That's right, I Michael Todd Cevering am becoming quite a lot better at basketball! Haha there are some kids in my district who are really good too. One of them is African American, so he runs all over me when we play. But hey, we have a great time! The newest member of the MTC presidency was announced this past Sunday, and he was hiccuping the whole time he spoke! It was pretty great. There's an Elder in my district—the one who used to be a Baptist :)--he has a lot of misconceptions about doctrine and truth. He's way into cloning and aliens. He likes to ask us questions about that. But Elder Acor and I have had a lot of great teaching experiences with him. We taught him about the character of God and exaltation, about the divine means of creation and the pattern that God has established for the creation of man as Spirits before men-in-the-flesh. Because of his background he really struggles to accept things. But he feels the truth of it. That's something great about him: no matter how much he likes to argue, he will always sit back in the end, with that look on his face of "I know this is true" and then he stops. The Lord is really helping Elder Acor and I to teach him. I love Hermana Eyring! She is incredibly kind! Elder Acor and I taught her twice this past week in our fake investigator thing--they call it progressive investigator. I don't really enjoy progressive investigator to be honest, but I've loved it with Hermana Eyring. She laughs and talks with you like you're her friends, while other teachers just sit there and judge you while you teach. It's incredible how you can be so edified by teaching in those lessons though: I was really touched by one of our lessons with Hermana Eyring. It's not real, but the Spirit that bears testimony of the things you say is very real. We committed Lilian--Hermana Eyring's fake investigator--to reading the Book of Mormon. I truly know that that book is the word of God. We talk about it a lot here, and the only thing anyone will ever tell you is: find out for yourself if it's true. My thoughts on that are very clear: What does someone have to lose if they will open their heart and read the Book of Mormon in sincerity to know if it's of God or not? Perhaps it will take courage, as President Monson would say, but it's worth it. The principles contained therein are too true and beneficial to be set aside as simply a lie or joke, and the Spirit that bears testimony of it is too real to be fraudulent. I love the Book of Mormon more now than I think I ever have. I have the opportunity to teach and read from it every day, and it has been changing my life. Haha it's like a new friend that you don't really acknowledge throughout the day, but is constantly edifying your heart, soul, and mind. Well, I can't think of much else that happened in the past week. James and I auditioned for a musical number (Savior Redeemer of My Soul). He played the piano for me, and we got a yes immediately after we finished. So we'll be performing some time soon. I'll let you know how that goes! Love you all! I do my best to remember you in my prayers. Elder Cevering p.s. thank you so much for the package you sent me! I loved, as did my companions, the cookies. Please thank Kara Liston for her kindness to me in sending me letters.

Elder Cevering at the Provo Temple

Elder Cevering with Heather Houghton (A girl he worked with). They ran into each other at the Provo Temple. She's down at BYU going to school. She posted this picture on Facebook and we were so excited to see it! He looks very happy!

Hello Family! Well, it was an eventful week here at el CCM--which is the Spanish for MTC. First let me tell you that the reason I'm no longer going to the Dominican Republic is not because of the hurricane. The Latin American missionaries who attend the DR MTC have not been able to get their visas, so they can't leave. And since it's such a small MTC they can't bring us down there. One thing I've learned to dislike about the MTC--some of the kids here are quite the Mormons. There was an Elder here who argued with one of our teachers in a workshop: he said "If we're not supposed to take the sacrament unworthily, why would we invite non-members to take it?" The teacher said, "Very good question. If you'll allow me to show you the next slide on the power-point I'll answer that question." So he changes the slide and there's a highlighted part that explains the answer to this Elder's question. Well, is this Elder paying attention? Nope. And the teacher called him out on it: it was awesome actually. He said: "Hey, if you're going to question what I'm teaching you can at least pay attention to me when I'm giving you an answer." Those weren't the exact words, and the tone of his voice wasn't rude, but you get the gist of it. This same Elder sat next to my district at lunch the same day, and we heard him telling his companions: "Yeah, I wait 5 minutes after I get my lunch to eat it. One of MY goals is to learn patience." Wow. And that's not all either: he answers EVERY question in workshops and such. And this is just one example among many of the missionaries here who find themselves to be more righteous than the rest of us. Here's another example: One of the Dominican Republic missionaries told me I lacked faith because I said I wish I'd have the experience, like him, to live among--and speak with--natives for 6 weeks in the Dominican Republic. He thought I needed a lecture about the miracles of God. Well, at this point my frustration was pent up, so I directed him to the "Learn Your Language" section in Preach My Gospel where it states clearly "THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SPEAKING WITH AND LISTENING TO NATIVE SPEAKERS OF THE LANGUAGE YOU ARE LEARNING." I have been blessed with the gift of tongues here, and I wholeheartedly believe in miracles. I've been the recipient of not too few miracles in the past three weeks. But I know that there is a line between gaining knowledge through experience speaking and teaching native speakers (who speak NO English) and merely sitting in a room looking over flashcards. Alright, there's my rant for the week. I promise I'm not as bitter as I sound :) I'm very happy here at the MTC! I'm getting along with my district and companion great! They call me the "scripture master" here haha I'm really humbled by their desire to ask me questions about the scriptures and the gospel. We got new teachers this week. Because of BYU Fall semester the teachers' schedules all had to be changed. I now have the great opportunity to be taught by Henry B. Eyring's granddaughter. That's really cool. And my other teacher is pretty cool: I know he's going to drill Spanish into us. Last night he had us all read Moroni 7 in Spanish...we were all impressed at how well we understood it. I'm learning Spanish pretty well right now--like I said last week, I kind of hit an apex with the language that I'm trying to surmount. There are a couple little things I'm trying to master right now, which are very tedious. But overall, my understanding of Spanish is increasing rapidly! There are days here where we only speak in Spanish--it's part of the program :) Neil L. Anderson spoke here last week. Wow! What an experience to see him walk through the doors in the gymnasium. It was electrifying to see him and know that he is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke about "10 Things President Monson Would Tell You if He Were Here." It was very uplifting! I have all the notes and I look over them once every couple of days. I'm so impressed by the reality of revelation: how is it that so many people know the things of my heart, though I've hardly spoken them? Neil L. Anderson spoke to my needs this past week, and I don't even know him! I can personally promise that God knows us as individuals and cares for us as we need. Elder Acor was an example of that this past week as well: he and I gave each other blessings because we were so sick. In the blessing he gave me he gave me a blessing concerning things no one here knows about me. I haven't told him that much about me, yet he was able to bless me with something I needed--and that "something" was NOTHING obvious. There is revelation on this earth today, and it comes through proper priesthood authority. There were a lot of challenges in the past week: I see how the Lord is answering my prayer for mountains to climb. There are definitely times when I am ready to go back to the room and nap, or just throw my flashcards or other work under my desk and just relax. But I am constantly reminded of Spencer W. Kimball's words: "Give me these mountains! Give me these challenges!" In Luke 6:48 the Savior expounds on the wise man who built his house upon a rock. The Savior teaches that in order to build upon the rock, the wise man first "digged deep" to find the foundation whereon he would build. Likewise, we have to "dig deep" to set our foundation. I'm learning so much about that here: haha and I know I'll have so much more to learn about that in life, especially at the end of these next six weeks. Anyway, thank you all for you love and letters! We get mail after lunch, and we always sing the "Mail Time" song from Blue's Clues when we leave class for lunch. Letters really do make your day: I got one from Sydney yesterday that really buoyed me up! I'm so grateful for all of you back home, and can't wait for that two year reunion! Love you all! Elder Cevering NEWS...August 24, 2012 Hello Mom! Well, here´s the next mountain to climb! All of the elders going to Puerto Rico are no longer going to the Dominican Republic MTC next week. As of right now we will be staying in Provo for the full 9 weeks! Hacho! It´s really frustrating. I was thinking just this morning how ready I am to be done here in Provo--and now I've got six weeks more! I'm really really really disappointed. But you know, maybe Elder Acor and I will end up being zone leaders now...not that that's a position I want. Oh man, I can't fathom being here for 9 more weeks. Either this is a direct answer to my prayer for mountains, or there's a definite purpose in our remaining here--or both! Ay me. Es no bueno. I thought you'd like to know that I saw James pretty quickly after he got here to the MTC. He's not in my zone, and we actually don't have a similar schedule like we very likely could have had. But hey, he's leaving in three weeks and I'm not! So lucky him. But I've been able to talk to him a few times actually. He seems really happy and excited to be here--I'm sure Leigh would want to know that. And his companion seems really cool. I don't know what else to say. Other than...Elder Neil L. Anderson spoke at the MTC this past Tuesday night! It was awesome! His topic was "What President Monson would tell you if he were here." It was a great talk. Oh man, I'm going to have a lot more of those I guess...which isn't bad, but I'd rather hear them in the DR! I remember feeling sorry for the missionaries that had to be here for 9 weeks, and look: now I'm one of them! They said there's a slim chance we'll be out of here by week 6, like they sometimes are able to, and that they're fighting for us to be out of here by then. But they told us not to expect it. Well, there's really nothing else to tell you. I'm getting new teachers next Monday since BYU starts Fall semester next week. One of my new teachers is actually President Eyring's granddaughter. At least that will be a cool experience for the next six weeks. She doesn't like to talk about him though, she's embarrassed when people ask her about it. Okay, well I sent a letter to you guys. Anyway, love ya! Elder Cevering p.s. Kara Liston sent me an apple pie this week. I don't really know how to thank her since I don't have her email or address. Please tell her my companions and I are very grateful for it and we loved it! My feet are fine too. Like I said, I put my shoes on and went to work and all the pain and symptoms went away.

MTC Emails

August 21, 2012 Just to give you all a heads up so you’ll understand what Michael is saying at the beginning of his letter, I had quite an experience at BYU Education Week last week, where I met a lady from Puerto Rico. She is the only member in her family – she’s only been a member for 3 ½ years, and the circumstances in how we met was quite incredible because her and I almost didn’t go to the class where we met. It’s a long story, but in a nut shell, I asked her where she was from and she said Puerto Rico. She wants her family to learn about the gospel. She has been praying really hard for them and then we happened to meet in this class. I told her that my son just left for the Puerto Rico Mission and she said she would send me her families information so that he can contact them and see if they’ll let him teach them about the gospel. When we parted she had tears in her eyes and said, “I want you to know that our meeting was not by chance.” We hugged (and cried) and parted with each other’s contact information. So that’s what he’s referring to when he begins his email below. -Melanie ____________________________________________________________________ Hello Family! Mom, that's quite an incredible story! I will pray and ponder on it over the next few weeks as I prepare to enter the field. I got my travel information this week: we leave for the Dominican Republic next Thursday (the 30th) and we fly to Texas, then Florida before the Dominican Republic. I'm stoked to get to the DR where the food will be a little bit better :) Elder Evans spoke at the MTC last week. It was really cool! Well, I have some sad news: Elder Acor and I had to change rooms this past week. We are no longer roommates with Elders Perrenoud and Laws. Elder Laws left for Colombia. Elder Perrenoud has some medical issues keeping him back, and since he's been here longer than us, and since he's the only one being held back, he had to be put in a threesome companionship. That meant we had to change rooms--we miss spending time with him. He's really good at beat boxing! And he's just a cool kid. Our new roommates are English speaking Elders. They're not in our branch, so it's a little different. They did the weirdest thing: the first few days after we moved in with them they would make our beds for us and leave little bite-sized snicker bars on our pillows. I've actually come to appreciate it a lot, but it was definitely weird at first. Elder Acor and I started making our beds on our own so they wouldn't have to do it, but they still leave us candy. HAHA. In other news, yes, it is the Dakota Bone that Denise is thinking of. He's a cool kid. He works really hard--probably harder than the rest of us. He's a great example to me, plus he keeps us all laughing. He's just a good kid. Our district is really great! Just for your information, a district consists of the people in your branch/zone (about 30-45 people who you go to sacrament with and other activities) that you entered the MTC with. So my district has ten Elders in it. We all get along really well, there's only one Elder who we struggle with because he’s a “one-upper” and he does it to everyone, all of the time. He's from Texas. His mom is a Baptist preacher. He was baptized into our church two years ago, and has no family support. His ward and his friends are paying for him to serve his mission. So, understandably he's having a hard time. His companion is not patient with him at all. Elder Acor and I teach him about the gospel and he really appreciates us. He really trusts us. Elder Acor and I have taught 5 lessons completely in Spanish now. We teach our teachers (who act as investigators that they had on their mission). We keep a record of the things we teach them, and we treat them like a real investigator. We've been capable of teaching everything--not perfectly, but hey, we only started speaking Spanish two weeks ago. Elder Acor had Spanish all through high school though, so he's pretty smart. Hermano Zimmerman said something that was impressive: He called the MTC the most consistent miracle in the church because of how well we all learn the language here. I don't know how well I've done at learning Spanish in the past week. I feel like I've hit a wall, so I'm trying to be patient to surpass it. I prayed last week for a mountain to climb haha you might laugh at that, because the MTC in itself IS a mountain to climb. But I thought I'd pray for more. Well, the Lord answered: I'm so incredibly amazed at the ways He compensates for our adversities. Here are some incredible things that have happened this past week: --So, like I said I prayed for this mountain. The day after that my feet began to swell and turn dark red. I went about the day and they began to really hurt. That night I took off my socks and my toes were bleeding through my toenails, and it was really uncomfortable. I thought it was because of the shoes, but both pairs of shoes caused the pain. So I prayed to be healed that night (side note--I can pray in Spanish now.) The next morning the pain was still there, and my feet were swollen, but I got up and put my shoes on...and after I started walking the pain was just gone. Completely! And when I changed for gym an hour later the swelling had gone down. --Then, in the midst of that, the flu swept through our district this week. Elder Acor and I got the worst of it. Yesterday I woke up with hardly any voice at all. But I got up and went to work--I knew Elder Acor and I had to teach our investigator later. And by lunch time I had my voice back as I needed it. Our lesson went great--it was our best lesson yet, and we committed him to baptism! I know the Lord qualifies us despite our weaknesses. It was a ROUGH week with all these things. But it was all worth it. I can't believe it's my P-day already haha it's gone by fast! :) After our lesson last night I was standing in our classroom looking out the window, looking at the mountain, thinking about that prayer I had, and the words of Spencer W. Kimball "Give me these mountains! Give me these challenges!" I'm really moved by those words. I listened to that talk (Mountains to Climb) by President Eyring yesterday, and felt with all my heart that he is called of God. Well, I love you all and miss you! I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is here on the earth today because of a living prophet and because of the prophets of old. I know Christ suffered for our sins and love us each so dearly. Our prayers are heard by a loving Heavenly Father, who seeks diligently for our well-being. Love, Elder Cevering

Elder Cevering's First Email from the MTC

Hello Family! The first few days at the MTC: BLAH! I was a slug. I was way sad to be gone from home. But in the past few days I've really come to love it a lot. It feels weird to think that I'll be leaving here in just a few weeks. That moment when I turned away from you guys and followed my Usher felt like an immediate transition. There's no time to think about anything but getting adjusted to the MTC. They take your picture, take you to your room, then to your classroom. It was a bad, bad day. I can think of only two days in my whole life where I can remember feeling nearly as low as that day and the next. My companion's name is Elder Acor (like acorn, but no "n"). He's pretty cool--he just barely graduated, and he was a football player in high school. He and I get along and work really hard together. He motivates me to have fun and to learn Spanish. He's going to Puerto Rico too, so we'll be flying to the Dominican Republic together and everything. He has a friend there too, so he has told me some cool things about the mission. Learning Spanish is going great! I've truly been blessed with the gift of tongues since being set apart. I'm not fluent at all: but after three laborious days of reading The Book of Mormon in Spanish and English, I finally finished the first chapter of Nephi yesterday :) and as I finished I was able to mostly understand all I read in Spanish without looking at the English. The hard part with Spanish is not understanding what is said, but responding and speaking it. We teach a girl named Lesly--she's a fake investigator/one of our teachers--and when Elder Acor and I teach we do a good job at teaching her, but a terrible job at responding to her questions. She asked us what el Expiacion was (the atonement) and we froze. After about 10 seconds I was able to say El Jardin de Getsemane, and Elder Acor was inspired from there. He really is a good kid. One of the Spanish teachers served in Puerto Rico. He got back about six months ago: apparently he served on an island where he didn't get the chance to shave for 4 months. I'm going to grow a beard :) My teacher's name is Hermano Zimmerman (hermano means brother in Spanish, fyi). We spend about 6 hours a day with him in class. That's pretty tough, but the work really isn't that hard. I feel really fresh in learning because I didn't go to school for a year. My zone is CRAZY! There's an Elder Bradshaw in my zone, but I don't know if he's the Puzey's relative or not. I'll find out. Anyway, my zone is really bad. Our branch president called us the worst zone he's had in the four years he's been here. Even the MTC president, President Brown, talked to them-- before I got here. But this is great: they have this guy who monitors our zone's dorm at night. As you know, we have to be in bed, lights out at 10:30. Well, Elder Perrenoud--one of my awesome roommates--had to go to the bathroom. He walked out to go at exactly 10:31, and this guy flipped on him. It was ridiculous: Elder Acor and I and Elder Laws--our other roommate--were all standing by the door listening. He asked Elder Perrenoud: "If Jesus Christ asked you to meet Him at the temple, would you be late to THAT? When you baptize someone, do you expect them to just pay NINETY percent of their tithing?" And Elder Perrenoud just said: "I just drank a lot of water tonight..." HAHAHA. It was crazy and awesome. There's an Elder in my district, Elder Bone--he went to Weber High. He graduated the year before me. Also, Preston Healy is in my district. I've seen Nik Aardema, Braydan Allen, Jamon Carver, and others. It's pretty cool to see and talk to them. Anyway, I love you all! Thank you so much for your prayers. I know I wouldn't be able to do this without the grace of Christ--He has truly lifted me through these past few days. I truly, honestly wouldn't be here if it weren't for Him. As much as I want to be home, I know Christ wants me to be here. That's my sacrifice I guess. Love you and miss you! Elder Cevering

Hugs at the MTC

Arriving at the MTC August 8, 2012

Enjoying our "Last Supper" with Michael at Kneaders

Almost to the MTC...