2 meses en Atlixco!

Correctomundo!

I have been here in beautiful Atlixco for 2 months! Woot, 16 to go.

So, we unfortunately did not set 10 more baptismal dates, and of the four that we had only one is still valid due to a lack of attendance at church this Sunday. Being here on a mission for me is like a rollercoaster. There are ups, there are downs, sometimes I feel like laughing, sometimes I feel like crying, and sometimes I feel like I am going to throw up. But when all is said and done, I want to ride again. :)

Something profound that I learned this week is that it is not my own strength I am relying on, it is the Lord's. Sometimes I feel like it's all up to me. I feel like I am responsible for getting everything done and getting it done on time. I feel like I have to be perfect and when I am not perfect I have failed. That is wrong. The only result that brings is disappointment, discouragement, frustration, and a decrease in my ability to feel the Spirit. I'll tell you what's not wrong (I'm really good at that). Relying on the Savior. My strength, my confidence, and my faith are centered on Jesus Christ, not myself. Remember when you feel like you can't take one more step that there is someone there that you can lean on.

Algo en que yo pensé ésta semana es la alegoría del cuarto obscuro. Necesitamos ejercer nuestra fe en Jesucristo y tomar el primer paso en el obscuridad. No sabemos si hay un suelo allá, no sabemos que hay allá. Pero, sabemos que el Señor nos ha preguntado a poner nuestro fe y confianza en Él, y que Él nos soportará. Y encontramos que después de que hubiéramos tomado el primer paso, hay luz para guiarnos. The trick is to take the first step.

I encourage each of you to really take a look at your lives and what you are doing to further the work of salvation. Don't be afraid to take the first step into the darkness and share your testimony with a coworker, to invite a less active friend to attend church with you, or to give a pass-along card to a stranger on a bus. You will find that after you have taken the first few steps in darkness, the room becomes lighter and lighter, until we reach a perfect brightness at the day when the Lord will come to redeem His faithful disciples.

Oh, something interesting, our district leader told us that in the whole district, (6 companionships), we had the most lessons this week!
Love always,
Hermana Cheever :)


fotos!

Cool Giant Clock!

Hermana Cheever making tortillas, Mexican style!

Email Short

Hola!

The work is going here in Atlixco! We have 4 baptisms scheduled for July! That´s what I have been thinking about this week. We have a challenge from our zone leaders this week to have 10 more dates! 10 in one week! Luke 1:37.

Also, there has been a lot of focus here in our stake about the members working with the missionaries. We all need to open our mouths to share the gospel! I challenge each of you to meet with the missionaries in your area this week and ask for their help to know how to share the gospel with your neighbors and friends, or to present the missionaries to your neighbors and friends that aren´t members!

Also, our ward mission leader here is working with all of the members to help them form a family plan for missionary work! It´s a great idea, and I hope it will help us a lot in the coming months to receive references and help many other people to come unto Christ through the covenant of baptism.

Also, a note about member retention. Many of the less active or inactive members we have met with have stopped attending church because they feel alienated from the members or have had bad experiences. I encourage each of you to reach out to those in your wards and stakes who are less active. Invite them over for dinner. Invite them to family night. Put your differences aside and reach out, because no one is perfect, but we are all the children of a Perfect Father in Heaven.

If you feel scared about missionary work, read Romans 8:31.

Ánimo!

Hermana Cheever :)

La semana en que una misionera estuvo enferma

Dear all.
The sick missionary was not me! We went to the clinic early early Tuesday morning (2:00 am) because my companion was throwing up blood! Fun stuff. Before you start to worry, it was only a little bit, and she is perfectly fine now. But what an adventure that was! We were at the clinic all night, and all day Tuesday. I never want to be sick or have to sit with a sick person in a hospital ever again in my life. Mi compañera me dijo que tengo el estomago de una Mexicana porque no me he enfermado, jaja. Es chistoso porque ella realmente es Mexicana, pero se enfermó.

Despite all that, we had one investigator this week commit to a baptismal date! She's the mother of a less active young woman. Se llama Carmen. Ella quiso mucho a ser bautizada con su hija, pero no estaba casada a su pareja, entonces no pudo. Ahora todavía no está casada, pero queremos que puedo casarse a estar lista a ser bautizada el 14 de Julio. I love talking to her because she has an enthusiasm for the gospel and she loves the Lord so much. Every time we talk about baptism, her face lights up and she just looks so happy.

I really hope that this works out because all the other dates that we have set with other investigators have fallen through because they don't come to church. We're working on that.

Ésta semana quiero testificar a ustedes que el poder del sacerdocio de Dios es real, es potente. También, Él nos escucha cuando oramos, y que Él nos contesta. Dios nos ama mucho, y quiere que estemos felices. No quiere que estemos desanimados o tristes. Eso ne es parte de su plan. A veces fallamos, pero por eso no debemos sentir como hemos fallado en la vista del Señor. Él siempre ésta allí, esperándonos a pedir por su ayuda. Ésta semana me sentía un poco desanimada, y por eso yo pedí por una bendición, y me ayudó mucho. Estoy muy agradecida por el poder del sacerdocio en mi vida.

This week I want to testify to you that the power of the priesthood of God is real and powerful. Also, He listens to us when we pray and He answers us. God loves us a lot, and He wants us to be happy. He doesn't want us to be discouraged or sad. That's not part of His plan. Sometimes, we fall short, but that doesn't mean that we should feel like we have failed in the sight of the Lord. He is always there, waiting for us to ask for His help. This week I have felt a little discouraged, and because of that I asked for a blessing. That helped me a lot. I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood in my life.

Also remember that God has given us weaknesses that we may be made strong. We are made strong by turning to Him in humble prayer and pleading for forgiveness of our faults and the strength and ability to do and become better in the future.

Paul, one of the greatest missionaries in scriptural history (in my opinion) said "When I am weak, then I am strong". I wish I could remember where that was in the Bible, and I hope that it really was Paul that said it. If not, I am very embarrassed. But it's okay.

Read Ether 12:27 and think of a weakness that this week you can start turning into a strength.

Que les vaya bonita!
Hermana Cheever

Hola

Hola all!

This week was pretty slow. We didn't have very many lessons because my companion started therapy for her knee (she hurt it a while ago) and that took up some time...we also helped a little bit with the Church's program "Helping Hands". Some doctors from the states came down to do free dental and lental (haha, eye stuff) work for people who live here in Atlixco.

So this email will be pretty short because I don't have much to say. The works of God continue here in Atlixco and worlds and lives abound. (If you can name that song I will give you 5 pesos). We had stake conference this weekend, and it was really great! The Saturday night session a returned mission president and his eife spoke about the relationship between the missionaries and the members. The missionaries are here to help the members introduce their friends to the gospel! It is our job to teach those people that the members are finding. Convert retention is much higher when those converts are references of the members!

Entonces, challenge! Find one person this week who is not a member that you will invite to a specific church function! Be it a ward activity, sacrament meeting, scripture study class, whatever. Find the courage to share your testimony about the gospel with other people. If you think "no, they're not ready. They don't want to meet with the missionaries", think again! We can't be the judge of when other people are ready. That's not our job. Our job is to open our mouths and invite!

Stay golden
Hermana Cheever :)

ps. some pictures for you to enjoy.

This is me, in juice form

... where is the right Fa's?

Titulo que no está interesante

Hola!

The work is going here in Atlixco. A little slow, but still going!

Quiero decirles de unos investigadores. Voy a empezar con la Hermana Lupita. Ella es muy buena, y tuvimos una fecha bautismal para ella, pero no asistió a la capilla este domingo, entonces su fecha calló. Pero, ella ya está progresando! Un día pasamos por su negocio, y le encontramos leyendo el Libro de Mormon! ¡Que Bueno! Ella está muy interesada en la historia familiar porque su mamá murió cuando era niña, y no le conocía. Ella tomaba café, pero desde el día que enseñamos la palabra de sabiduría, ¡no lo ha tomado! Y nos dijo que se siente mejor todo el tiempo por eso. Hermanos y hermanas, la iglesia es verdadera.

I want to tell you about some investigators. First, Hermana Lupita. She is a really person, we love her so much. We had a baptismal date set for the 7th of June, but she didn't come to church this week, so it'll have to be postponed. Despite this, she is progressing so much! One day this week we passed by her business and found her reading the Book of Mormon! All on her own! She is interested in family history, because her mom died when she was really little, so she never got a chance to know her. She used to drink coffee, but since we taught the Word of Wisdom, she has not drunk it at all! (to our knowledge, we haven't seen her in a few days). She also told us that her health is improving for having quit drinking cofffee. The Church is true ladies and gentlemen.

La proxima se llama Sandra. Esta semana pasada, ¡cambiamos su fecha para esta fin de semana que viene! Antes, fue para junio. Pero, ella está lista, y tuvo una experiencia que nos ayudó a enseñarle esto. Un día, ella vió en el cielo 2 nubes, que juntó a formar el cuerpo de un ángel, y la luna estuvo en el lugar perfecto a ser la cabeza. Usando esto, empezamos a hablar de la primera visión, y la experiencia grande de José Smith. Y ella estaba dispuesta a cambiar su fecha, mientras antes no estaba dispuesta aún a poner una fecha, aunque quería a ser bautizada. Pues, el Señor nos envia a las personas que están listas. Necesitamos tener el Espíritu para reconocerlo.

Next is Sandra. This past week, we changed her baptismal date for this coming weekend! Before, it was in June. But, she is ready, and she had an experience that helped us show her that. One day she saw two clouds in the sky that formed the body of an angel, and the moon was in the exact right place to be the head. She loves angels, and this experience was very touching to her. We related this experience to the wonderful experience that Joseph Smith had of the First Vision. After that, she was willing to change her date, whereas before she was not even willing to set a date, although she wanted to be baptized. Well, this just goes to show that the Lord sends us to those who are ready. We need to have the Spirit to recognize it.

Thanks for all your support and prayers, know that they make a difference.

Also, read the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY. It will change your life. It's so applicable it´'s crazy. It's like those prophets of days of old actually knew what words we would need in our day to comfort and guide us. Weird, right?

Love always,
Hermana Cheever

ps. I had some fantastic pictures to send, but I didn't send them. Just thought you should know.

Hermana Cheever is lovin' Mexico!

Dear all,

I am just loving Mexico. Like really. I am already thinking about how much I will miss Atlixco when I leave, and how much I will miss Mexico when I come back home. In 17 months. That's right folks, I have already been gone for one month. Miss me yet? Haha, but on the other hand, I need to remember to live each day, and get the most out of each day.

Currently we have two investigators with a baptismal date. They are both fantastic ladies and know they should be baptized, but it took some serious persuading (from the Spirit of course) to get them to commit to a date.

Getting to talk to my mom and dad was super great! I am excited to get to work this week! I have a feeling we're going to be working harder than we ever have before!

Les amo todo! Muchas gracias por todos sus ejemplos y consejos y oraciones. También, los que no están sirviendo en un misión de tiempo completa, recuerden que la obra necesita la ayuda y apoya de los miembros! Den a los misioneros en sus áreas referencias! Les necesitan :) (help the missionaries in your área, they need it! And the work goes nowhere without the assistance of the members.)

Mi pensamiento espiritual es esto: a veces Dios va a dejarnos a hacer decisiones incorrectas. No va a dirigirnos en cada cosa. No va a dar mandamientos de cada situación. El espera que usemos nuestro conocimiento y consciencia a hacer decisiones correctas. Pero no siempre son correctas. Cuando realizamos que hemos hecho un error, debemos arrepentirnos y humillarnos. Esto debe acercarnos mas a Cristo porque realicemos que le necesitamos todo el tiempo. (Espero que ese tenga sentido :))

My spiritual thought is this: sometimes God lets us make wrong decisions. He's not going to direct us in all things. He's not going to give commandments for every situation. He expects us to use our good judgment to make correct choices. But our choices are not always correct. When we realize that we have made a mistake, we must repent and humble ourselves. This should bring us closer to Christ because we realize that we need Him all the time.

And He's always there for us. When I start to feel down, I remember that I've got my Best Friend working right beside me.

Keep smiling :)
Hermana Cheever



ps I finally remembered my camera, entonces aquí están unas fotos para disfrutar

A tree that looks like a pineapple

Hermana Campos y yo afuera de la capilla

This box of cookies. Story of my life

Sister Cheever shares a spiritual experience

Hola!

So this week I just want to share this one experience. Oh, and before I forget, I did get my Libro de Mormon back :). 

On Saturday we were having kind of a rough day. The lessons either got cancelled or were just weird, and we were having a hard time contacting people on the streets. We were headed to an appointment with an investigator named Lupita, with a ward missionary, Atzin. I was a little worried going into the lesson because the last time Lupita had a lot of questions and doubts. This time if she had more questions, we were going to talk about faith. How we need to trust in the Lord and show our love and trust by acting on what we know, although there are things we don't know. So we started with a prayer, and Lupita was looking really happy! Good sign. We asked if she'd read the chapter of scripture that we'd left with her. She smiled really big and said that she did, and that she got an answer. As she was reading she just felt an overwhelming feeling of tranquility and peace! She feels like there is going to be a big change in her life! In the past, she has been hesitant to set a baptismal date because she doesn't feel like she will be able to keep the commitment to attend church every Sunday because she visits with her family on that day. But on Saturday, with her answer from the Book of Mormon and with the reassurance that the Lord will prepare a way for us to accomplish the things He has commanded (! Nephi 3:7), she agreed to prepare to be baptized on June 7! Wahoo! It made me so happy! This experience also made me realize (once again) that we are merely instruments in the hands of the Lord. If we are worthy of the Spirit and try our best to obtain knowledge, He does the rest. Our job is to find as many people to teach as we can, and to teach with the Spirit. The Lord knows whom He has prepared. I am grateful to be a part of this great work!

Love,

Hermana Cheever :)