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 :)