Monday, October 26, 2015

Blessings in the Smallest Moments

Hello Family,

I hope that you are all doing well. Sounds like you guys are still keeping busy back at home. Can you guys believe that Halloween is this Saturday!!! Time is just flying by. Let Jessica know that I am praying for her. I hope that she is alright.

As for Christmas treats...I would love to make the stuff that sister Ayers always gives us. Can you send me the recipe? I can find almost all of the ingredients here. Sending food in the mail, takes a lot more time because it is hard to get through customs. But I would like some Butterfinger bars. They don't exist here:( Also, if you guys could put a ton of Christmas music on a micro SD card....and recordings of you guys...and send that to me for Christmas too....that would be amazing!!!

That's crazy that Randa, and Shannon are married!!!! Let them know that I am so happy for them, and wish them all the best.

Here in Frontera we are having a blast!!! I know I say that every week....but it's true. The mission is such an amazing experience. We had some pretty big storms this week and a lot of flooding. I know that a Hurricane hit Mexico City. We got a little hit of that.

I took out another ingrown toenail this week. It was pretty big, and hurt a ton, but after 20 min, I was able to get it out. Elder Reyes took a video of it. It looks pretty cool. Right now I have a whole in my toe!! No worries, it will be okay.

This week we were preparing a ton for our baptisms this weekend. We had to get several lessons in before our investigators would be ready to pass their interviews. We taught a lot of lesson four this week. Lesson four is all of the commandments. They are so fun to teach. One thing that I have noticed is that all commandments are given to us, to help us be close to the Spirit. When we teach the commandments we focus a lot on that. We keep the Word of Wisdom so that our minds will be clear, and that our bodies can be in a state to listen to the voice of the Spirit. We pay tithing in order to receive all the blessings that God has for ourselves. Really, living the commandments isn't a restriction on our lives....it is a way that God has prepared so that we can receive more blessings from Him.

So...remember William? He is leaving on his mission TOMORROW!!! I have no idea what we are going to do without him. He knows almost everyone here in Frontera, and he is always taking us to visit his friends. He is going to be an amazing missionary. He has been the only member of his family for a whole year now. His family has always supported him, but to see the testimony that he has is amazing. For an entire year he has done everything Gospel related all by himself. When he got his mission call, we started teaching his family. They are amazing, and though they are progressing slowly, they are going to take the step of baptism soon. William has been praying for it for a long time now. On Saturday, he got to baptize his cousin Maria. That was such an amazing experience for me and for him. He was sooo happy that finally he has another family member with him. To watch him perform his first Baptism was priceless. And the huge abrazo between them both afterwards was even better. He is so excited to get out into the field.

On Friday night the young single adults organized a ward family home evening. They put us in charge of the message about missionary work. We had an amazing time. We taught members how to contact and invite their friends. Then we showed the last part of Meet the Mormons (about the missionary and his mom). Afterwards, William shared his testimony with everyone. Everyone was crying with the Spirit....including his Mom!!! It was a great night.

After the activity, we went over to his house with the rest of his family to eat dinner. Then I shared some magic tricks with them. It was a super fun night.

We also baptized Norma on Saturday. She was so excited to be baptized, and after she came out of the water....she was crying. That of course made me start crying. It is so amazing to see these people change their lives, and experience the Spirit. Her mom was there and felt the Spirit really strong. We are going to teach the rest of her family tomorrow.

Baptism of Norma and Maria.  William, who baptized his cousin Maria, is leaving for his mission tomorrow.
This weekend was the last week of the transfer so we were all waiting like a little kid for Christmas. Really, waiting for transfer calls are like that. We got the call Sunday night at 10:00. Elder Reyes and I are staying together here in Frontera!!! We are so happy and so excited for another transfer together. We will see what this next transfer has in store for us. BTW this transfer ends in December! I am so close to one year!!!!

President called us into Villahermosa tomorrow...no idea why....but we'll see tomorrow!

I love this area, and this week I got to see how much they all love me. All the members and our investigators kept saying things from ''What will we do without you'' to ''If you leave, I am going to cry!''. When we called some members to let them know we were staying, they started to cry. It is amazing how in such a short time you can fall in love with a place. In my case, this ward! I Love serving here.

On Friday night I had a sister in the ward ask me if I would bless her baby on Sunday. I made sure that is was okay with Bishop and President Morales, and accepted. I didn't really know why she asked me.

On Sunday morning, when I took that baby in my arms, I was filled with such a calm, loving, peaceful feeling. It was amazing. I gave him his name...Iker Alonso Chable Solano...and then started giving him a blessing following the promptings of the Spirit. As the words started leaving my mouth, I began to cry. This amazing little baby had a spirit so strong. And the Love that God has for him, was overwhelming. I blessed him with things really specific following the Spirit. It was a miracle for me.

Afterwards, the miracle continued. This Sunday was fast-Sunday because next week is Stake Conference so we all bore our testimonies. This little baby's Grandmother got up to bear her testimony and shared this story. The little boy was born early and dead. After about five minutes, he started to cry, and was alive. They then started a bunch of tests on him to help get him healthy. After all that was done, he fell asleep as all newborns and everything was normal. A little later, the Grandmother had a distinct impression to check his diaper. I guess that is something you do with a newborn, and she thought that it wasn't needed. She then had the same impression again, so she checked. When she checked, she found out that the umbilical chord (I don't think I spelled that right) was not wrapped correctly, and the baby was bleeding out. She immediately called for a nurse and they saved him.

After these two miracles the little baby was fine. His mom started thinking about the blessing and started talking with the Grandmother. They talked about several priesthood holders in the ward (the baby's father is not a member) but none of them felt like the right choice. The then thought about me...and the Spirit testified to them that I was the one who would give the blessing. I started crying for the millionth time this weekend. I was so humbled. God gave me the opportunity to experience such an amazing thing. After hearing the story, the blessings that were given to this baby made sense.

Elder Cavenee had the privilege of performing the baby blessing of Iker Alonso Chable Solano.
I know that God gives us moments like this. They are moments to remind us of how much He loves us. Sometimes they are big, but mostly they are small...almost invisible. That it why it is important to look for these blessings in every moment. They exist, and they help us change our hearts and become better people. I am eternally grateful for every single one of these moments that I have. They are small witnesses to me that everything I believe and teach is real. There is no doubt in my mind. He Lives and He Loves Us. We are his children, and he wants us to be happy. Everything is possible because and through Him. He is our Savior, and Redeemer. He is our brother. He is the Son of God...Jesus Christ.

I Love you all so much and I hope that you enjoy this next week. Look for the blessings in every moment and always give thanks for these blessings.

Love Always,


Elder Cavenee

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