Canada's Remembrance Day
Baptism of Justin & Kaitlyn
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
November Pictures 2011
Baptism of Jessie November 19, 2011
Canada's Remembrance Day
Baptism of Justin & Kaitlyn
Canada's Remembrance Day
Baptism of Justin & Kaitlyn
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
November Emails
**ONLY 16 MORE DAYS UNTIL HE COMES HOME!!!**
November 28, 2011
Hello Family!
Another week down, we are halfway through the transfer. I keep thinking about how crazy it is that I only have like two weeks left as a missionary. It's so surreal. I don't even know what to say. I actually thought I might get evacuated out of my last area. This week we have had crazy winds, up to speeds of 130 kmph. Then yesterday there were three different grass fires across southern Alberta, one just south of Raymond, one on the west side of Lethbridge, and I'm not sure where the other one was. If the wind had been blowing north instead of east it would've blown the fire straight into Raymond. There were some families and Hutterite colonies evacuated south of town but no one in the main town was evacuated.
On to missionary work. This week we taught Chris Sherman's friend, Billy, who just moved in with them. They, meaning Chris and Rachel, flew him out here from Nova Scotia so he could have a fresh start at life. It seems like I told you this last week, but I can't remember. They are good people. The lesson with Billy went well, we taught him the plan of salvation. He thought it was really interesting, but he's more of a 'science' person than anything. He said he would think about baptism. We'll continue to meet with him as we meet with Chris and Rachel. Chris is an awesome fellowshipper, by the way, wow, he kept telling Billy how the gospel would help him and how it's blessed his own life, it was sweet.
That same night we met with the Keslers again. I love meeting with them. Things are coming along! He will be finishing the Book of Mormon in the next week or two, so that is sweet. I am so glad we were able to start meeting with them, I can't wait til they can go through the temple.
For American Thanksgiving this week we had two dinner appointments. By the way, looking at the pictures of myself from the past two years, I have chunked up. After Thanksgiving, I can understand why. Jesse's dinner was good, he did make some cornbread that was pretty darn good. Cornbread...yum. Thursday was kind of a gong show day, we had to do our weekly planning, then we had to go into Lethbridge to fix our car, and then we came back and finished weekly planning, we didn't get to proselyting til about 4:00 that afternoon and dinner was at five. We kind of felt like piles. But we worked hard during that hour and found a potential investigator, Barb. When we started talking to her she said she knew a little bit about the church and wasn't really interested. Then we asked her, "Do you believe that God has a plan for you?" and she really opened up. She had no idea that she was welcome at the church services. We left her a pamphlet, which she said she would read, with our number on it, and then said she would talk to her member-neighbor and try to come to church. That would be sweet!
On Friday we met with a new investigator, Evelyn, she's an older lady. She has met with the missionaries on and off for the past couple of years but she has never made progress until now. She has been coming out to church every day since about July, and she even stays for all three hours now! When we asked her about baptism she said she wouldn't be baptized and we couldn't figure out the concern, she brought up a couple different things. But she stands up for the church, she goes to church, she reads the Book of Mormon, we'll just have to keep working with her. In fact, last night we stopped by to drop something off to her and she said, "I learned something from my reading, why you are called Saints! In Mosiah 3:19 it says, "...becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord..." so that's why you are called saints!" She was really excited about that little revelation she received.
We talked to quite a few other nonmembers this week who have some potential. One man quit taking the discussions a couple years ago but when we talked to him he realized that the missionaries said they were going to take him to the family history center and then never did. So we offered to take him! Another man we talked to was so depressed...wow, I don't think I've ever talked to someone that depressed. He would say things like, "I want to believe in God, I just can't right now, I'm not ready. You can't help me. I don't know if God can help me. But I have your card here, there's a little bit of hope left in me, I just can't make myself be ready to believe in God. I'm further away from believing in God now than I ever was." We spent probably ten or fifteen minutes talking to him and bearing testimony and everything and he wouldn't budge. Finally he just said, "I know you want to help me but you can't, only I can. I'm trying to quit smoking right now and this time I'm determined to do it." Of course, we picked up on that, and offered to help him quit smoking. He said we could try! So we're gonna go back this week and show him the program. It's interesting with these two men as we tried everything we could to help them feel the Spirit and accept the invitation to meet with us, when we didn't know what to say they said something that then helped us know what to say.
I forgot to mention that Jesse got the priesthood this weekend! On Saturday we went over and taught him about the priesthood and then Sunday he was ordained, so that was cool. I didn't think it would happen that fast, but hey, it's cool. I think Bishop wants him to bless the sacrament next week hahaha that could be funny. I've never heard the sacrament prayer said by someone with a southern accent.
We also met with Alex on Saturday night. We walked down to the burger joint in town, got shakes, and then went back to his apartment and read from the Book of Mormon. He's really opening up to us. His apartment is just two rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom. So we read part of 3 Nephi 11 with him and he was like, 'Wow, this is awesome.' Then we read part of Alma 32 with him and he got it! We invited him, when we had finished reading, to say the closing prayer and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. When he had ended the prayer he said, 'Wow, I feel light. Do you know what I mean? I just feel lightened, I feel like my burden has been lifted!' Elder Nelson told him that he was feeling the Holy Ghost and there's no way he could've made that feeling up and Alex said, 'No way, it was too instant to just be fake or made up or anything. Wow.' That was sweet. I would love to see him get baptized before I come home.
Yesterday afternoon we met with Charlene Simpson again. She is thinking about baptism as well! She loved stake conference last week but then didn't come out to church yesterday because the wind was so strong she was afraid of the electric cables coming down and shocking her to death. I like her a lot.
So, that's pretty much it for this week. Just think about it: two more e-mails!
Love,
Elder Cevering
November 21, 2011
**ONLY 22 MORE DAYS UNTIL COLBY COMES HOME!!!**
Hello Family!
Wow, I never thought going home would be THIS hard. All week long I have struggled to stay focused, not thinking about home, but just thinking about my mission, all the opportunities to share the gospel that I missed, did I help everyone I was supposed to help, just questions like that. This past week we had zone conference and it was all focused on finding people through our own efforts, so like GQ-ing and tracting and stuff. I had the opportunity to play the musical number, my arrangement of Hark, All Ye Nations/O Canada Medley. I'm going to ask President if I can play it at the farewell fireside we have in Calgary the night before I come home.
On to missionary stuff. Jesse got baptized this weekend! Elder Nelson and Brother Graham got in the font with him to help him out of the water, but then Jesse slipped so he made a big old splash and they were having a hard time getting him out. He came out of the water spitting and choking and everything.
On Tuesday I went on exchanges with the elders in Magrath. While there we visited a young man, Jimmy Stringham, who served with Nate in Australia! It was sweet to talk to him and hear about some of the experiences they had together. We had dinner that night with a family that I met out in Creston while they were visiting, isn't that funny? Such is the towns in southern Alberta. We met with the Keslers that same night. I love visiting them, they are sweet.
Friday Elder Nelson had to go to a training in Lethbridge so I went on splits with the Cardston West elders for like two hours, then when Elder Nelson got back we did our weekly planning, then right after that we met up with the zone leaders in Cardston to go on exchanges so that we could do five baptismal interviews, and I stayed in Cardston with Elder Conder for the rest of the night. I have come to love him. He doesn’t judge you for your weaknesses, he wants to know how to help you, I really appreciated that.
Saturday Jesse got baptized! Later that night we had dinner with the Nilsson family, they made this crazy dessert that had chocolate chip cookie dough on the bottom, oreos on top of that, and then brownies cooked on top of that. Put some hot fudge and vanilla ice cream with it and you have got a delicious heart attack on a plate. I called them Three Degrees of Glory bars. Yum.
Yesterday was stake conference. Elder Nelson and I were invited to sit on the stand with the speakers. Well, the Seventy that was in attendance, Elder George Rhodes, Jr., during the intermediate hymn walked up to us and asked us to bear a two-and-a-half minute testimony of the Savior. After the meeting he thanked Elder Nelson and I saying he was very pleased with what we said. President Archibald was in attendance, and when he e-mailed me today he said, "Just so you know as I was at stake conference and heard your testimony and then had occasion to talk with several members who expressed their appreciation for you and about your work, the Lord gave me to know that He was pleased with your mission and your sacrifice. It was a wonderful little blessing I think meant for you to hear." So that was cool.
We also had two investigators at stake conference! Maureen didn't come, neither did Krissy, but Charlene and a new investigator, Alex, were there, so that's awesome! After stake conference we had lunch with the Jensen family, Sister Jensen is awesome. She has been trying and trying to find someone for us to teach, and she finally succeeded! This young man, Alex, walked into the library here in Raymond and said he just moved here a couple days ago, he has no family, no friends, just a job. Well, she invited him to come over on Sunday for lunch and to meet the missionaries as well, to learn about the dominant religion of Raymond. He accepted the invitation and then invited himself to church! Over lunch we were talking to him about his religious background and he has a very small knowledge of Christianity. He has read parts of the Bible, knows about Christ and God and all that, he just doesn't have any direction in life, he said he has no idea what the purpose of life is. So we go into the family room and I start us off with the second lesson, the plan of salvation. This totally threw Elder Nelson off guard and the remainder of the lesson was almost a disaster. He asked all the right questions but he was taking us all over the board and we had no idea where we were going. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in a lesson on my entire mission. He loved what we were teaching him, he took it all in and said, 'If this is true, this changes everything. It will make me happier, it will help me to not be afraid of death, and I won't have to be so hard on myself when I make a mistake.' He is solid. He was excited to read about the Book of Mormon, he's never really heard about the church, never seen missionaries, all he knows is that he has a friend back home in Ottawa who is a member of the church. He said he doesn't drink alcohol, he doesn't do drugs, he doesn't drink coffee or tea, he's totally prepared for the gospel. What a miracle! We have another appointment with him scheduled for Sunday.
Chris and Rachel also have a friend they flew over from Nova Scotia. Chris is working with him, hopefully to get him interested in the gospel. We met him last night, he doesn't really believe in God or anything but he is open to learning, so with a little prayer and fasting his heart can be softened and the Spirit will bring him into the fold. So, the work up here in Raymond is good.
Thanks for all your prayers! I love you!
Elder Cevering
**ONLY 27 MORE DAYS UNTIL COLBY GETS HOME!!!**
November 14, 2011
Hello Family!
No I don't have any pictures for you :) I will have some next week though if Jesse's baptism goes through this weekend. I also just finished getting registered for school. I am stoked! I will have a total of 14 credit hours, I'm taking Spanish, Geography, Racquetball, Strength Training, and both choir classes. I basically start every day at 9:30 and finish by 1:30. That will be so sweet, I can't wait. Since I've "finished" my associate's degree and half of my music classes aren't available until next semester, I thought I would just take a fun class (racquetball) to make sure I exercise during the week and also strength training to turn all this fat into muscle :) I wrote Nate a letter a couple weeks ago saying he and I should take some courses together, like some gym classes or something, I don't know if he ever got it, but that would be sweet if we could make that work.
On to more missionary-like things. So, yes, Jesse is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday. Our only concern with it is finding baptismal clothes big enough for him. :) We met with him this week and watched the Joseph Smith movie from the memorial building and he really enjoyed it. He said he would be willing to give up coffee and his occasional beer and everything to be baptized so here we go! Unbeknownst to us, Jesse wanted to learn more about Joseph Smith's life. He then came out to church this weekend even though his wife couldn't, which was sweet, we weren't sure if he would come without her. He's so funny, he calls me and Elder Nelson by our first names, and when we showed him the baptismal font this weekend, along with our ward mission leader, Brother Graham, he got even more excited about the baptism. As he said the closing prayer he said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Scott, Coby, and Father Grant to help me come closer to you..." Hahaha it was so funny, I guess you'd just have to hear him say it with his Alabama accent and everything, but Elder Nelson and I laughed about it for a good long time.
There's a less-active young man we've been working with, I don't know if I've told you about him. He is 16-years-old and doesn't hold the priesthood, so, he expressed to the bishop that he wants to come back to church and receive the priesthood and everything. Bishop wanted us to teach him the discussions before he gets ordained so that he has a testimony of everything. Well, we just finished the discussions last week and tonight we're going over to teach him a lesson specifically on the Priesthood. Hopefully he can be ordained soon.
Tuesday night we met with a less-active member. She randomly showed up at church a couple weeks ago and said she was thinking about coming back. We were able to talk to her about the Atonement and it was a really powerful lesson. She said she's still not sure if she wants to have the church in her life so our job is to help her see how it can bless her. Her kids don't like us very much, though. We were hoping that with her coming back we could also teach her kids but they've gotten into some anti stuff so they think we're not Christians and that we're going to brainwash them and everything, but we'll see, maybe they'll come around.
Chris and Rachel Sherman came out to church again this weekend, and this time they stayed for all three hours! Rachel is really coming around! This week she asked us if we could start coming over to read scriptures with them! I've really come to love them and I want to keep in contact with them after for sure. They had us over for dinner this week and it made Elder Nelson sick hahaha.
Most of our lessons this week were with investigators and less-active members. Unfortunately, Maureen dropped us this week, she wants to wait for her husband to baptize her so she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. So we'll see what happens. We taught a nine-year-old girl this week who is totally solid, wants to be baptized and everything, but her dad won't let her. That's so frustrating! We were also supposed to meet with a lady, but she cancelled twice on us due to circumstances beyond her control. There was also a less-active man that dodged us twice. And Danny and his dad said they were going to be at church and then weren't. And Maureen didn't come to church like she said she would. The Geddes family didn't pray about the word of wisdom, but they did make us cookies...and such is missionary work.
Then Elder Nelson and I had to speak at a youth fireside last night. I also had to sing, Sister Baril and I threw it together at like three o'clock yesterday afternoon hahaha it went well though.
We're almost back at square one here in Raymond, all our progessing investigators will be getting baptized and we'll have to find new people to teach. Tell Nick thanks for the e-mail last week, I'm stoked to see him. Well, I love you, we gotta get going, but, we'll keep in touch, don't worry. Only three more e-mails! Crazy, hey? I'll try not to think about it too much...
Love,
Elder Cevering
November 7, 2011,
Hello Family!
Well, unfortunately Jesse's baptism didn't go through this weekend, but it is rescheduled for November 19th, hopefully he will be ready by then. He isn't sure about the word of wisdom. We are going to have to work through that one. He's doing really well, though, he invited us to have American Thanksgiving at his house in a couple weeks. American Thanksgiving in Canada with an African American man from Alabama. Sweet.
We started teaching a new investigator this week. She has met with the missionaries on and off for the last four years or so and now feels like she is ready to be baptized if that is what God wants her to do. I guess her family back in Ontario disowned her brother when he joined the Church so she has been afraid of being disowned as well. When we taught her this week a lot of things clicked that she never understood before, like why her church doesn't have prophets and apostles, why they don't practice baptism of any kind, different things like that. It was really neat, she was asking these questions that were just PERFECT and I got so excited and felt the Spirit super strong, and when I asked her what made the difference this time she said, "I looked into your eyes and felt it was true. That's never happened before, but I get it now." She believes that Joseph Smith saw the First Vision, she's just not sure if he was a prophet, probably because she's never read the Book of Mormon, and she has a severe reading disability so we have to work around that. She's pretty solid though, hopefully things continue to go well.
Maureen is solid as well, we met with her and taught her the law of tithing, fast offerings, and follow the prophet. The clip we showed of Pres. Monson really brought the Spirit and Maureen has such a strong desire to be baptized.
This week we also met with a less-active family. They've been through the temple and everything, but church just became less of a priority and so they have forgotten their testimonies. They both have word of wisdom problems but they say they know Joseph Smith was a prophet, they're just not sure about the word of wisdom thing. It was intense because Elder Nelson and I went in there with no idea what to teach, we just prayed for the guidance of the Spirit, asked lots of questions, and eventually found out that they haven't prayed and asked GOD if the word of wisdom is something they should live. The husband seems to be a lot more receptive than the wife, she is adamant that she doesn't want to come back to church, but he wants to strengthen his relationship with Jesus Christ. We'll see how things go with them.
Keslers are doing great, we taught them again this week and they are sweet. It was a little hard to concentrate in that lesson after having dessert crepes for dinner...yum. Thursday was like our miracle day, that's the day we met with Charlene; that night at dinner the family gave us a solid referral that we can contact; we were able to set up an appointment with a less-active member who has two unbaptized children; and we set up an appointment with a former investigator for tonight. That was sweet.
We forgot it was daylight savings this week so Elder Nelson and I showed up to church an hour early. The whole time we were freaking out, 'Why is nobody here?! Did they move to another building?!' And then we realized our stupidity. But! Chris and Rache had their baby blessed in sacrament, Elder Nelson got to give the blessing, and that was so sweet. To see the both of them at church, partaking of the sacrament, and then when Chris held his baby after the blessing he just broke down in tears and was so happy. I am glad that we stuck with them. I'm sure they will eventually come around, it will just take some time, probably longer than I will be here, but that's okay.
Last night we had dinner with a less-active/part-member family from the Philippines and had some crazy food. It was good but weird. When we invited the wife to take the discussions she didn't really answer, but she has a copy of the Book of Mormon in Tagalog, she talks like a member, she has pictures by Latter-Day Saints throughout her house, I don't know what to think. We'll try to build a stronger relationship there and invite her again, but, who knows what will happen.
I feel for some reason that I should include how I dealt with that anti stuff from the week before. It bothered me for a while, most of the weekend probably. Finally, I came across the scripture in Moroni 7:16-17 which tells us the way to judge. I put the Book of Mormon to the test. Does it persuade me to believe in Christ? Yes. Does it persuade me to do good? Yes. Then I can know with a "perfect knowledge" it is of God. If the Book of Mormon is of God, then how could Joseph Smith, being a wicked man, bring forth the Book of Mormon, it being a book from God? It goes perfectly with Elder Callister's talk in conference, which was sweet by the way. So, I'm thankful to know that the Book of Mormon IS the word of God, regardless of what people say, and that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God.
That's pretty much all that happened this week. Thanks for your prayers!
Love,
Elder Cevering
November 1, 2011
Hello Family!
Well, I will be dying here in Raymond, and Elder Nelson will be killing me off. I have been freaking out this past week, realizing that I am coming home in six weeks. It might be a rough adjustment for a while. So, yes, Elder Nelson and I will be staying together for my last transfer, here in Raymond. I think that will be good.
On Wednesday we met with an investigator and tried to set a date for baptism but she was pretty dodgy. She wants to be baptized, she said, but she wants her husband to baptize her, and he's got some work to do before he can do that. We're not sure when it will happen, but we are sure it will.
We also met with another investigator this week. We had a killer lesson with him Sunday night. We took him on a church tour, which is basically a first lesson but different principles are taught in different rooms, it's pretty cool, and by the end of the lesson he said, "I know this is what I need to do. I feel like I can believe what you're telling me, I believe it, I feel myself coming closer to God and Jesus Christ as you teach me." He closed the lesson with a prayer and off he went on his merry way. It was kind of funny, Elder Nelson and I said to ourselves this past week, "Man, we don't want to go from setting a baptismal goal of 8 in one week (to fulfill our baptismal goal of 9) to setting a baptismal goal of one. Is it even possible?" Then we felt like he could be ready this weekend, so when we were teaching him on Sunday, Elder Nelson was going to invite him to be baptized. In my heart I was thinking to myself, "Please invite him to be baptized on November 12th, please, please, please," and then it came out for November 5th. O me of little faith. He said he would prepare for baptism and our ward mission leader, who was with us, said he would plan on it, so we may or may not have a baptism this weekend.
Another investigator went in for surgery this week. He seems to be coming around more and more. So does his wife. We'll see what happens with them. They always call us and ask us to find them something for free, he probably calls us at least three times every other day. Well, this weekend we were pretty busy so finally he left us a message that said, "I love you guys, but I WILL light your phone on fire if you don't return my calls..." Hahaha Elder Nelson and I laughed so hard, it's just so fitting of something he would say.
We met with a couple we've been work with, and the husband is doing really well. He has been reading his scriptures and praying, and he shared with us something the Spirit taught him this past week. He was reading in Jacob 5 and wasn't really getting much out of it until in the last ten verses or so there is a scripture that talks about cutting off one branch at a time so that the roots don't overpower the branches and the whole tree is lost, something to that effect. When Elder Nelson and Elder Madsen met with him the week before, they talked about how we are going to focus on building his testimony first and THEN get him on the stop smoking program, one thing at a time. Then when he read that scripture he understood it in a different way than was meant in the allegory, but still applicable. That was sweet. We then had a little discussion about God, our relationship with Him and all that, it was really neat.
On Saturday Elder Nelson got bit by a dog. It was pretty funny. "You laughed for like twenty minutes," says Elder Nelson as he looks at my screen while I'm typing this. I'm pretty sure it wasn't 20 minutes though. Maybe ten. There was this little white poodle, okay, I don't know what kind of dog it was, but it was a little white dog, like Muffy. It was running around everyone's yards barking it's heads off and it was barking at us while we walked to our car. Well, there was a huge pile of leaves on the ground so Elder Nelson kicked some leaves at the dog to get it to go away, which it did, and then when he turned his back it ran at him and nipped his ankle hahahahahaha. Oh man, it was so funny to see it. Elder Nelson yelled, "Ouch!" and the member that we were with gasped and yelled, "Did that dog just bite you?!" and the dog ran off, oh man. Probably not as funny to you, but it was hilarious in the moment. Don't worry, all is well, the dog didn't even draw any blood, he just wanted to taste Elder Nelson.
Saturday night we had a good experience. It was like 8:45 and I didn't want to drive out of the town of Raymond to visit this referral, but Elder Nelson did, so I just decided to go with it. I've learned a lot about following the Spirit this week. Anyways, we went out there and the whole time I was thinking to myself, "This man is going to be so mad at us because it's dark outside, maybe his kids are in bed, what if his dog goes crazy" all that stuff. We show up, he invites us in, we talk for quite a bit, and he says he is slowly coming to believe this is the true church. He said he wasn't ready yet for the discussions but we are welcome any time and it won't be long before he does take the discussions. That was sweet.
Then yesterday we spent like half the day making brownies for our investigators and less-active families we are working with. It took us A LOT longer than we thought it would. We had to be in by six, so then we just hung out at our apartment and now we are here and it's November. Crazy. Until next week! Thanks for your love and prayers!
Love,
Elder Cevering
November 28, 2011
Hello Family!
Another week down, we are halfway through the transfer. I keep thinking about how crazy it is that I only have like two weeks left as a missionary. It's so surreal. I don't even know what to say. I actually thought I might get evacuated out of my last area. This week we have had crazy winds, up to speeds of 130 kmph. Then yesterday there were three different grass fires across southern Alberta, one just south of Raymond, one on the west side of Lethbridge, and I'm not sure where the other one was. If the wind had been blowing north instead of east it would've blown the fire straight into Raymond. There were some families and Hutterite colonies evacuated south of town but no one in the main town was evacuated.
On to missionary work. This week we taught Chris Sherman's friend, Billy, who just moved in with them. They, meaning Chris and Rachel, flew him out here from Nova Scotia so he could have a fresh start at life. It seems like I told you this last week, but I can't remember. They are good people. The lesson with Billy went well, we taught him the plan of salvation. He thought it was really interesting, but he's more of a 'science' person than anything. He said he would think about baptism. We'll continue to meet with him as we meet with Chris and Rachel. Chris is an awesome fellowshipper, by the way, wow, he kept telling Billy how the gospel would help him and how it's blessed his own life, it was sweet.
That same night we met with the Keslers again. I love meeting with them. Things are coming along! He will be finishing the Book of Mormon in the next week or two, so that is sweet. I am so glad we were able to start meeting with them, I can't wait til they can go through the temple.
For American Thanksgiving this week we had two dinner appointments. By the way, looking at the pictures of myself from the past two years, I have chunked up. After Thanksgiving, I can understand why. Jesse's dinner was good, he did make some cornbread that was pretty darn good. Cornbread...yum. Thursday was kind of a gong show day, we had to do our weekly planning, then we had to go into Lethbridge to fix our car, and then we came back and finished weekly planning, we didn't get to proselyting til about 4:00 that afternoon and dinner was at five. We kind of felt like piles. But we worked hard during that hour and found a potential investigator, Barb. When we started talking to her she said she knew a little bit about the church and wasn't really interested. Then we asked her, "Do you believe that God has a plan for you?" and she really opened up. She had no idea that she was welcome at the church services. We left her a pamphlet, which she said she would read, with our number on it, and then said she would talk to her member-neighbor and try to come to church. That would be sweet!
On Friday we met with a new investigator, Evelyn, she's an older lady. She has met with the missionaries on and off for the past couple of years but she has never made progress until now. She has been coming out to church every day since about July, and she even stays for all three hours now! When we asked her about baptism she said she wouldn't be baptized and we couldn't figure out the concern, she brought up a couple different things. But she stands up for the church, she goes to church, she reads the Book of Mormon, we'll just have to keep working with her. In fact, last night we stopped by to drop something off to her and she said, "I learned something from my reading, why you are called Saints! In Mosiah 3:19 it says, "...becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord..." so that's why you are called saints!" She was really excited about that little revelation she received.
We talked to quite a few other nonmembers this week who have some potential. One man quit taking the discussions a couple years ago but when we talked to him he realized that the missionaries said they were going to take him to the family history center and then never did. So we offered to take him! Another man we talked to was so depressed...wow, I don't think I've ever talked to someone that depressed. He would say things like, "I want to believe in God, I just can't right now, I'm not ready. You can't help me. I don't know if God can help me. But I have your card here, there's a little bit of hope left in me, I just can't make myself be ready to believe in God. I'm further away from believing in God now than I ever was." We spent probably ten or fifteen minutes talking to him and bearing testimony and everything and he wouldn't budge. Finally he just said, "I know you want to help me but you can't, only I can. I'm trying to quit smoking right now and this time I'm determined to do it." Of course, we picked up on that, and offered to help him quit smoking. He said we could try! So we're gonna go back this week and show him the program. It's interesting with these two men as we tried everything we could to help them feel the Spirit and accept the invitation to meet with us, when we didn't know what to say they said something that then helped us know what to say.
I forgot to mention that Jesse got the priesthood this weekend! On Saturday we went over and taught him about the priesthood and then Sunday he was ordained, so that was cool. I didn't think it would happen that fast, but hey, it's cool. I think Bishop wants him to bless the sacrament next week hahaha that could be funny. I've never heard the sacrament prayer said by someone with a southern accent.
We also met with Alex on Saturday night. We walked down to the burger joint in town, got shakes, and then went back to his apartment and read from the Book of Mormon. He's really opening up to us. His apartment is just two rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom. So we read part of 3 Nephi 11 with him and he was like, 'Wow, this is awesome.' Then we read part of Alma 32 with him and he got it! We invited him, when we had finished reading, to say the closing prayer and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. When he had ended the prayer he said, 'Wow, I feel light. Do you know what I mean? I just feel lightened, I feel like my burden has been lifted!' Elder Nelson told him that he was feeling the Holy Ghost and there's no way he could've made that feeling up and Alex said, 'No way, it was too instant to just be fake or made up or anything. Wow.' That was sweet. I would love to see him get baptized before I come home.
Yesterday afternoon we met with Charlene Simpson again. She is thinking about baptism as well! She loved stake conference last week but then didn't come out to church yesterday because the wind was so strong she was afraid of the electric cables coming down and shocking her to death. I like her a lot.
So, that's pretty much it for this week. Just think about it: two more e-mails!
Love,
Elder Cevering
November 21, 2011
**ONLY 22 MORE DAYS UNTIL COLBY COMES HOME!!!**
Hello Family!
Wow, I never thought going home would be THIS hard. All week long I have struggled to stay focused, not thinking about home, but just thinking about my mission, all the opportunities to share the gospel that I missed, did I help everyone I was supposed to help, just questions like that. This past week we had zone conference and it was all focused on finding people through our own efforts, so like GQ-ing and tracting and stuff. I had the opportunity to play the musical number, my arrangement of Hark, All Ye Nations/O Canada Medley. I'm going to ask President if I can play it at the farewell fireside we have in Calgary the night before I come home.
On to missionary stuff. Jesse got baptized this weekend! Elder Nelson and Brother Graham got in the font with him to help him out of the water, but then Jesse slipped so he made a big old splash and they were having a hard time getting him out. He came out of the water spitting and choking and everything.
On Tuesday I went on exchanges with the elders in Magrath. While there we visited a young man, Jimmy Stringham, who served with Nate in Australia! It was sweet to talk to him and hear about some of the experiences they had together. We had dinner that night with a family that I met out in Creston while they were visiting, isn't that funny? Such is the towns in southern Alberta. We met with the Keslers that same night. I love visiting them, they are sweet.
Friday Elder Nelson had to go to a training in Lethbridge so I went on splits with the Cardston West elders for like two hours, then when Elder Nelson got back we did our weekly planning, then right after that we met up with the zone leaders in Cardston to go on exchanges so that we could do five baptismal interviews, and I stayed in Cardston with Elder Conder for the rest of the night. I have come to love him. He doesn’t judge you for your weaknesses, he wants to know how to help you, I really appreciated that.
Saturday Jesse got baptized! Later that night we had dinner with the Nilsson family, they made this crazy dessert that had chocolate chip cookie dough on the bottom, oreos on top of that, and then brownies cooked on top of that. Put some hot fudge and vanilla ice cream with it and you have got a delicious heart attack on a plate. I called them Three Degrees of Glory bars. Yum.
Yesterday was stake conference. Elder Nelson and I were invited to sit on the stand with the speakers. Well, the Seventy that was in attendance, Elder George Rhodes, Jr., during the intermediate hymn walked up to us and asked us to bear a two-and-a-half minute testimony of the Savior. After the meeting he thanked Elder Nelson and I saying he was very pleased with what we said. President Archibald was in attendance, and when he e-mailed me today he said, "Just so you know as I was at stake conference and heard your testimony and then had occasion to talk with several members who expressed their appreciation for you and about your work, the Lord gave me to know that He was pleased with your mission and your sacrifice. It was a wonderful little blessing I think meant for you to hear." So that was cool.
We also had two investigators at stake conference! Maureen didn't come, neither did Krissy, but Charlene and a new investigator, Alex, were there, so that's awesome! After stake conference we had lunch with the Jensen family, Sister Jensen is awesome. She has been trying and trying to find someone for us to teach, and she finally succeeded! This young man, Alex, walked into the library here in Raymond and said he just moved here a couple days ago, he has no family, no friends, just a job. Well, she invited him to come over on Sunday for lunch and to meet the missionaries as well, to learn about the dominant religion of Raymond. He accepted the invitation and then invited himself to church! Over lunch we were talking to him about his religious background and he has a very small knowledge of Christianity. He has read parts of the Bible, knows about Christ and God and all that, he just doesn't have any direction in life, he said he has no idea what the purpose of life is. So we go into the family room and I start us off with the second lesson, the plan of salvation. This totally threw Elder Nelson off guard and the remainder of the lesson was almost a disaster. He asked all the right questions but he was taking us all over the board and we had no idea where we were going. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in a lesson on my entire mission. He loved what we were teaching him, he took it all in and said, 'If this is true, this changes everything. It will make me happier, it will help me to not be afraid of death, and I won't have to be so hard on myself when I make a mistake.' He is solid. He was excited to read about the Book of Mormon, he's never really heard about the church, never seen missionaries, all he knows is that he has a friend back home in Ottawa who is a member of the church. He said he doesn't drink alcohol, he doesn't do drugs, he doesn't drink coffee or tea, he's totally prepared for the gospel. What a miracle! We have another appointment with him scheduled for Sunday.
Chris and Rachel also have a friend they flew over from Nova Scotia. Chris is working with him, hopefully to get him interested in the gospel. We met him last night, he doesn't really believe in God or anything but he is open to learning, so with a little prayer and fasting his heart can be softened and the Spirit will bring him into the fold. So, the work up here in Raymond is good.
Thanks for all your prayers! I love you!
Elder Cevering
**ONLY 27 MORE DAYS UNTIL COLBY GETS HOME!!!**
November 14, 2011
Hello Family!
No I don't have any pictures for you :) I will have some next week though if Jesse's baptism goes through this weekend. I also just finished getting registered for school. I am stoked! I will have a total of 14 credit hours, I'm taking Spanish, Geography, Racquetball, Strength Training, and both choir classes. I basically start every day at 9:30 and finish by 1:30. That will be so sweet, I can't wait. Since I've "finished" my associate's degree and half of my music classes aren't available until next semester, I thought I would just take a fun class (racquetball) to make sure I exercise during the week and also strength training to turn all this fat into muscle :) I wrote Nate a letter a couple weeks ago saying he and I should take some courses together, like some gym classes or something, I don't know if he ever got it, but that would be sweet if we could make that work.
On to more missionary-like things. So, yes, Jesse is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday. Our only concern with it is finding baptismal clothes big enough for him. :) We met with him this week and watched the Joseph Smith movie from the memorial building and he really enjoyed it. He said he would be willing to give up coffee and his occasional beer and everything to be baptized so here we go! Unbeknownst to us, Jesse wanted to learn more about Joseph Smith's life. He then came out to church this weekend even though his wife couldn't, which was sweet, we weren't sure if he would come without her. He's so funny, he calls me and Elder Nelson by our first names, and when we showed him the baptismal font this weekend, along with our ward mission leader, Brother Graham, he got even more excited about the baptism. As he said the closing prayer he said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Scott, Coby, and Father Grant to help me come closer to you..." Hahaha it was so funny, I guess you'd just have to hear him say it with his Alabama accent and everything, but Elder Nelson and I laughed about it for a good long time.
There's a less-active young man we've been working with, I don't know if I've told you about him. He is 16-years-old and doesn't hold the priesthood, so, he expressed to the bishop that he wants to come back to church and receive the priesthood and everything. Bishop wanted us to teach him the discussions before he gets ordained so that he has a testimony of everything. Well, we just finished the discussions last week and tonight we're going over to teach him a lesson specifically on the Priesthood. Hopefully he can be ordained soon.
Tuesday night we met with a less-active member. She randomly showed up at church a couple weeks ago and said she was thinking about coming back. We were able to talk to her about the Atonement and it was a really powerful lesson. She said she's still not sure if she wants to have the church in her life so our job is to help her see how it can bless her. Her kids don't like us very much, though. We were hoping that with her coming back we could also teach her kids but they've gotten into some anti stuff so they think we're not Christians and that we're going to brainwash them and everything, but we'll see, maybe they'll come around.
Chris and Rachel Sherman came out to church again this weekend, and this time they stayed for all three hours! Rachel is really coming around! This week she asked us if we could start coming over to read scriptures with them! I've really come to love them and I want to keep in contact with them after for sure. They had us over for dinner this week and it made Elder Nelson sick hahaha.
Most of our lessons this week were with investigators and less-active members. Unfortunately, Maureen dropped us this week, she wants to wait for her husband to baptize her so she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. So we'll see what happens. We taught a nine-year-old girl this week who is totally solid, wants to be baptized and everything, but her dad won't let her. That's so frustrating! We were also supposed to meet with a lady, but she cancelled twice on us due to circumstances beyond her control. There was also a less-active man that dodged us twice. And Danny and his dad said they were going to be at church and then weren't. And Maureen didn't come to church like she said she would. The Geddes family didn't pray about the word of wisdom, but they did make us cookies...and such is missionary work.
Then Elder Nelson and I had to speak at a youth fireside last night. I also had to sing, Sister Baril and I threw it together at like three o'clock yesterday afternoon hahaha it went well though.
We're almost back at square one here in Raymond, all our progessing investigators will be getting baptized and we'll have to find new people to teach. Tell Nick thanks for the e-mail last week, I'm stoked to see him. Well, I love you, we gotta get going, but, we'll keep in touch, don't worry. Only three more e-mails! Crazy, hey? I'll try not to think about it too much...
Love,
Elder Cevering
November 7, 2011,
Hello Family!
Well, unfortunately Jesse's baptism didn't go through this weekend, but it is rescheduled for November 19th, hopefully he will be ready by then. He isn't sure about the word of wisdom. We are going to have to work through that one. He's doing really well, though, he invited us to have American Thanksgiving at his house in a couple weeks. American Thanksgiving in Canada with an African American man from Alabama. Sweet.
We started teaching a new investigator this week. She has met with the missionaries on and off for the last four years or so and now feels like she is ready to be baptized if that is what God wants her to do. I guess her family back in Ontario disowned her brother when he joined the Church so she has been afraid of being disowned as well. When we taught her this week a lot of things clicked that she never understood before, like why her church doesn't have prophets and apostles, why they don't practice baptism of any kind, different things like that. It was really neat, she was asking these questions that were just PERFECT and I got so excited and felt the Spirit super strong, and when I asked her what made the difference this time she said, "I looked into your eyes and felt it was true. That's never happened before, but I get it now." She believes that Joseph Smith saw the First Vision, she's just not sure if he was a prophet, probably because she's never read the Book of Mormon, and she has a severe reading disability so we have to work around that. She's pretty solid though, hopefully things continue to go well.
Maureen is solid as well, we met with her and taught her the law of tithing, fast offerings, and follow the prophet. The clip we showed of Pres. Monson really brought the Spirit and Maureen has such a strong desire to be baptized.
This week we also met with a less-active family. They've been through the temple and everything, but church just became less of a priority and so they have forgotten their testimonies. They both have word of wisdom problems but they say they know Joseph Smith was a prophet, they're just not sure about the word of wisdom thing. It was intense because Elder Nelson and I went in there with no idea what to teach, we just prayed for the guidance of the Spirit, asked lots of questions, and eventually found out that they haven't prayed and asked GOD if the word of wisdom is something they should live. The husband seems to be a lot more receptive than the wife, she is adamant that she doesn't want to come back to church, but he wants to strengthen his relationship with Jesus Christ. We'll see how things go with them.
Keslers are doing great, we taught them again this week and they are sweet. It was a little hard to concentrate in that lesson after having dessert crepes for dinner...yum. Thursday was like our miracle day, that's the day we met with Charlene; that night at dinner the family gave us a solid referral that we can contact; we were able to set up an appointment with a less-active member who has two unbaptized children; and we set up an appointment with a former investigator for tonight. That was sweet.
We forgot it was daylight savings this week so Elder Nelson and I showed up to church an hour early. The whole time we were freaking out, 'Why is nobody here?! Did they move to another building?!' And then we realized our stupidity. But! Chris and Rache had their baby blessed in sacrament, Elder Nelson got to give the blessing, and that was so sweet. To see the both of them at church, partaking of the sacrament, and then when Chris held his baby after the blessing he just broke down in tears and was so happy. I am glad that we stuck with them. I'm sure they will eventually come around, it will just take some time, probably longer than I will be here, but that's okay.
Last night we had dinner with a less-active/part-member family from the Philippines and had some crazy food. It was good but weird. When we invited the wife to take the discussions she didn't really answer, but she has a copy of the Book of Mormon in Tagalog, she talks like a member, she has pictures by Latter-Day Saints throughout her house, I don't know what to think. We'll try to build a stronger relationship there and invite her again, but, who knows what will happen.
I feel for some reason that I should include how I dealt with that anti stuff from the week before. It bothered me for a while, most of the weekend probably. Finally, I came across the scripture in Moroni 7:16-17 which tells us the way to judge. I put the Book of Mormon to the test. Does it persuade me to believe in Christ? Yes. Does it persuade me to do good? Yes. Then I can know with a "perfect knowledge" it is of God. If the Book of Mormon is of God, then how could Joseph Smith, being a wicked man, bring forth the Book of Mormon, it being a book from God? It goes perfectly with Elder Callister's talk in conference, which was sweet by the way. So, I'm thankful to know that the Book of Mormon IS the word of God, regardless of what people say, and that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God.
That's pretty much all that happened this week. Thanks for your prayers!
Love,
Elder Cevering
November 1, 2011
Hello Family!
Well, I will be dying here in Raymond, and Elder Nelson will be killing me off. I have been freaking out this past week, realizing that I am coming home in six weeks. It might be a rough adjustment for a while. So, yes, Elder Nelson and I will be staying together for my last transfer, here in Raymond. I think that will be good.
On Wednesday we met with an investigator and tried to set a date for baptism but she was pretty dodgy. She wants to be baptized, she said, but she wants her husband to baptize her, and he's got some work to do before he can do that. We're not sure when it will happen, but we are sure it will.
We also met with another investigator this week. We had a killer lesson with him Sunday night. We took him on a church tour, which is basically a first lesson but different principles are taught in different rooms, it's pretty cool, and by the end of the lesson he said, "I know this is what I need to do. I feel like I can believe what you're telling me, I believe it, I feel myself coming closer to God and Jesus Christ as you teach me." He closed the lesson with a prayer and off he went on his merry way. It was kind of funny, Elder Nelson and I said to ourselves this past week, "Man, we don't want to go from setting a baptismal goal of 8 in one week (to fulfill our baptismal goal of 9) to setting a baptismal goal of one. Is it even possible?" Then we felt like he could be ready this weekend, so when we were teaching him on Sunday, Elder Nelson was going to invite him to be baptized. In my heart I was thinking to myself, "Please invite him to be baptized on November 12th, please, please, please," and then it came out for November 5th. O me of little faith. He said he would prepare for baptism and our ward mission leader, who was with us, said he would plan on it, so we may or may not have a baptism this weekend.
Another investigator went in for surgery this week. He seems to be coming around more and more. So does his wife. We'll see what happens with them. They always call us and ask us to find them something for free, he probably calls us at least three times every other day. Well, this weekend we were pretty busy so finally he left us a message that said, "I love you guys, but I WILL light your phone on fire if you don't return my calls..." Hahaha Elder Nelson and I laughed so hard, it's just so fitting of something he would say.
We met with a couple we've been work with, and the husband is doing really well. He has been reading his scriptures and praying, and he shared with us something the Spirit taught him this past week. He was reading in Jacob 5 and wasn't really getting much out of it until in the last ten verses or so there is a scripture that talks about cutting off one branch at a time so that the roots don't overpower the branches and the whole tree is lost, something to that effect. When Elder Nelson and Elder Madsen met with him the week before, they talked about how we are going to focus on building his testimony first and THEN get him on the stop smoking program, one thing at a time. Then when he read that scripture he understood it in a different way than was meant in the allegory, but still applicable. That was sweet. We then had a little discussion about God, our relationship with Him and all that, it was really neat.
On Saturday Elder Nelson got bit by a dog. It was pretty funny. "You laughed for like twenty minutes," says Elder Nelson as he looks at my screen while I'm typing this. I'm pretty sure it wasn't 20 minutes though. Maybe ten. There was this little white poodle, okay, I don't know what kind of dog it was, but it was a little white dog, like Muffy. It was running around everyone's yards barking it's heads off and it was barking at us while we walked to our car. Well, there was a huge pile of leaves on the ground so Elder Nelson kicked some leaves at the dog to get it to go away, which it did, and then when he turned his back it ran at him and nipped his ankle hahahahahaha. Oh man, it was so funny to see it. Elder Nelson yelled, "Ouch!" and the member that we were with gasped and yelled, "Did that dog just bite you?!" and the dog ran off, oh man. Probably not as funny to you, but it was hilarious in the moment. Don't worry, all is well, the dog didn't even draw any blood, he just wanted to taste Elder Nelson.
Saturday night we had a good experience. It was like 8:45 and I didn't want to drive out of the town of Raymond to visit this referral, but Elder Nelson did, so I just decided to go with it. I've learned a lot about following the Spirit this week. Anyways, we went out there and the whole time I was thinking to myself, "This man is going to be so mad at us because it's dark outside, maybe his kids are in bed, what if his dog goes crazy" all that stuff. We show up, he invites us in, we talk for quite a bit, and he says he is slowly coming to believe this is the true church. He said he wasn't ready yet for the discussions but we are welcome any time and it won't be long before he does take the discussions. That was sweet.
Then yesterday we spent like half the day making brownies for our investigators and less-active families we are working with. It took us A LOT longer than we thought it would. We had to be in by six, so then we just hung out at our apartment and now we are here and it's November. Crazy. Until next week! Thanks for your love and prayers!
Love,
Elder Cevering
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