Cardenas Week 3/Baptism!

Dear Family, (Note from Mary:  This is from Monday Feb. 21st)

How is everyone doing? It is great to hear about the progress of Jackson, and that he is out of the Hospital now!!!! Honestly I think the best rehab would be to just relax with the people that love him the most. Were the videos that you sent me from his rehab home? Did they give you a definite response in how long he has to be there?

Congratulations Vanessa on your speech. Did you guys record it? I would love to see some of it:) How is piano going? I miss you:) Jenna, how is your manfriend? How are you doing? I miss you. All of the Elders that see our family pictures always comment on how beautiful you both are:)

I'm sorry for all of the stress that it has been on all of you. I know that I don't feel any of it being here, so busy, but I imagine that it is very difficult for all of you. I want you to know that my companion and I pray for you all...all the time. My companion knows a little about what is going on.

My companion is the coolest guy ever. My favorite companion:) He is from México, and has 7 months in the mission. He is an awesome teacher, and a wonderful companion. We don't get to spend a ton of time together, because we do a lot of divisions, but we always miss each other. Right now our zone is the second best in the mission (not like it's a competition...okay maybe a little). The best zone in the mission is Carmen, and they have always been the best, but we have plans to pass them up. We'll see how that goes. Right now we are working on helping all of the Elders in the zone to invite their investigators to be baptized in the first lesson. We have several elders that are still afraid to do it, so we spend time in divisions with them showing them how it is done, and helping them feel more comfortable doing it.

This week was another crazy week of finding, teaching, interviewing, sweating, getting dehydrated...all of the good stuff. And.....we baptized!!!! We baptized an investigator named Marcial. It was a really neat experience. On Thursday, a sister in our ward told us that she wanted us to teach her brother. He had been taught by missionaries before, and has come to church, but just didn't want to change his life, and habits. His sister told us that she wanted us to visit with him and see if we could help him with his problems. We went on Friday, and taught him. We started by showing him the video Hallelujah. Then we talked to him about the Holy Ghost and what He is in our lives. We talked to Marcial about how the Holy Ghost can help him in his life, and asked him if he really wanted to change. He said that he did want to change his life around, and become a better example for his little boys. We then....following the Spirit, invited him to be baptized on Saturday, and he accepted!!!! I had the privilege to baptize him on Saturday. It was wonderful. All of his family were there. They were all so happy because they are all members, and he is the only one that has not been baptized. He told us that he has been taught by missionaries for years, and until the day we had visited him, he had never felt the Spirit that strong. He is very excited to start a new life. It is wonderful.

We have another baptism planned for this Saturday as well. We have been working on getting all of the areas baptizing every week....and this week only two areas don't have dates. We are going to be working with them to see if we can save some baptismal dates.

It has been very hot here. The heat months are getting closer. I've been told that Comalcalco is the hottest place in the mission. We'll see:) Today was a nice break. It rained and the weather cooled down.

Things are going really good here. I am really loving the mission. I love my area, zone, companion...everything. It is awesome.

I continue to pray for you all.

Love you tons,

Elder Cavenee

p.s. I'll send the pictures in a moment:)

Cardenas Week 2

Hey Guys,  (Note from Mary:  This is from Monday, Mar. 14th)

I'm sorry that this is going to be a little shorter that last week because I don't have as much time, but I'll get in all the detail that I can.

First of all, I am so happy to hear how you are all doing. It seems like you are all keeping very busy back at home. I can't believe that we are already halfway through March. Time is just flying by.

This week was just as crazy as last week. On Monday, we had giant Nerf war in the church for like three hours. It was awesome!!!

Tuesday was the only day that I was able to work in my area with my companion. Like always, we worked really hard. We found this couple, Andres and Martha. They are golden investigators. The only problem with them is that they are not married. We cannot baptize them until they are married. So...we looked up all of the information and helped them find all of their papers. Then we found out that Andres was married before. He separated from his wife, but never got divorced. That was three years ago, so now we are trying to help him get his divorce papers from her, so that he can get married to Martha. That process takes like a month, so we have to wait for all of that to go through. Andres and Martha want to be baptized so bad. They come to church every week and are doing everything that they can to complete with that goal. they are awesome.

At 8:00 our lesson fell through, so we went contacting. I contacted this house, and a drunk guy answered the door. We asked if anyone else was there, and he was with his 8year old daughter. Realizing that he was the only adult home, and that he was drunk, we told them that we would come back later. This guy got a little mad and told us to come in. We told him we would come back another day, but he insisted that we come in and teach him. He finally threatened us that if we didn't come in, he would shoot us with his pistol. That scared us and we didn't know what to do, so we went in. We sat down and he offered us food. We told him we were okay, and he threatened us again. He told us if we didn't eat, he would shoot us with his pistol. He sent his daughter in the kitchen to prepare the food. He then told us to go help her. So, we went into the kitchen and started helping Miriam. She told us not to worry because her dad didn't have a gun. She told us that she lived there with her dad and her 12 year old brother. We asked if her dad drank a lot, and she told us that sometimes he does. She was very sweet. We packaged the food up, and were getting ready leave when the dad asked us to give his children blessings. We gave them blessings. It was a Spirit filled moment. At the end, I was crying, my companion was crying and the dad was crying. He promised that he was going to stop drinking and that he would try to be a better dad. We set up an appointment with him for Friday. It was an awesome experience.

Wednesday we went to district class in Cárdenas to visit the other district. Elder Enriquez (my second companion) is district leader there. He gave a really good district class and we introduced the new video from the church for Easter. It's called ''Hallelujah'' https://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_SU_3-13-2016_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_. It is really good. Post it on facebook and share it with everyone. We are using it here now to find new investigators. It is really good. After district class, Elder de los Cobos stayed in Cardenas, and I went back to my area with Elder Antauywa. I spent the day working with him. It was super fun. I taught him how to be more effective in his lessons, and to be able to invite to baptism without fear. He gets very nervous when it comes to inviting to baptism, so we taught a lot of lesson 1 inviting them all to baptism. He got a lot better by the end of the day, and we some improvement in their area in the rest of the week.

On Thursday, Elder Antauywa went back to his area with his companion, and I went to Petrolera to do interviews for the sisters. My companion was in Cunduacan in other divisions, so I took Elder Dimas with me. It was really fun. We went out to a little pueblo and met Sister Longi and Sister Freire to do their interviews. I interviewed a 12 year old boy named Jonathan. He was super cool, and was super ready for his baptism. His mom gave us pozol (corn dough blended with water) with peanuts. It was super good. I'm pretty sure that none of you would like it, but it is delicious.  

Afterwards, we went outside and took pictures in the field that was right outside of his house. Then we headed into Cardenas to meet with another investigator of the sisters. I spent almost two hours talking with this mom and her son. They had decided that they wanted to wait longer to get baptized. I talked with them for two hours about the Holy Ghost and influence that it has in our lives. We talked about the blessings that come from obedience, and the blessings that come from having the Holy Ghost in your life forever. With the help of the Spirit, they let go of their fears, and decided to be baptized this week. After we finished the interviews, we went out and ate tacos. Tacos al pastor. They are seriously the best tacos I have ever eaten in my life, and they do not exist in the United States. That night we stayed with Elder Chavesta and Elder Barajas.

Friday morning we headed back to Comalcalco, and Elder Dimas stayed with me working in our area. Elder de los Cobos was with Elder Alejandro (president's secratary) visiting other areas and trying to save baptismal dates. We found some really cool people. We went and visited Miriam, and her dad again. This time he wasn't drunk. We taught them lesson 1 and they accepted baptism for this Saturday. We are going to visit them again tomorrow.

Sorry, I don't have much time left.

Saturday was a normal working day.

Sunday I gave a talk in church about missionary work between members and missionaries. We had three investigators at church....130 members. At night we had ward choir practice. It was great.

This week was crazy, but it feels so good to work so hard. I hardly have time to think about myself, or be with my companion.

I Love you all so much!!!

Love,

Elder Cavenee

Baptismal interviews

Random Picture I found on my camera

Cardenas - Week of Travels

Hello Family, (Note from Mary:  This is from March 7th...I love this letter!!)

How is everyone doing? I am glad to hear that everything is going so well back at home despite the situation you're all passing through.

First of all, I am now at 14 months!!!! That means in ten months I'll be home again with you all.

This week has been super crazy. Like I told you all last Monday, I woke up early and traveled to me new area. I got transferred to the Zone Cardenas. My area is in Comalcalco. I am zone leader here, and I am in charge of 18 Elders and 2 Sisters. This zone is huge!!!! I love it though. I know several of the missionaries that are here, and I am getting to know the rest of them.

On Tuesday, I had a nice day of hard work with my companion. We found a ton of new investigators, and I got home super tired. Then we started the phone calls. We have to call 9 areas every night to follow up on their day. It takes a lot of time. By the time we went to bed, we were dead tired and I slept super well.

On Wednesday we got up early to travel to Villahermosa for mission leadership council. It was an awesome council where we created the doctrine of the Standards of Excellance of our mission. We also spent a lot of time talking about and coming up with solutions for the problems in the mission. It was a great council. I played the hymns and I also played the piano for a special musical number the the assistants did. President also shared with us that our mission is now Number one in México for baptisms. That is crazy!!!

On Thursday we woke up early and traveled to Cañales. I went on divisions with Elder Enriquez!!!! My second companion. He is one of our district leaders, and so I went and worked with him for the day, and did a baptismal interview for him. It was so fun, and very interesting to see how much each one of us has changed in the year that we haven't seen each other. We got to talk about a lot of the memories that we made together almost a year ago. His area is really cool. Cañales is Spanish for canes. There is a sugar refinery in his area, and fields of sugar cane. It is pretty cool.

On Friday we woke up early and traveled back to Comalcalco for our zone class. I was super nervous because this zone is twice as big as my last one, and I wanted to give a spiritual and really fun class. Elder de los Cobos and I prepared a ton of stuff and activities, we were just praying that it would all come out well. Then we found out that President and his wife, along with one of the assistants would be coming to our zone class. That made me even more nervous!!

Our class went very well though. We had a nice study of the doctrine of our missions Standards of Excellence (what we created in mission leadership council). We had really good participation, and we could all really feel the Spirit. We then committed all of the missionaries in our zone to keeping and living these standards. Then we had another activity focusing on the follow up we give on every investigator with baptismal dates (which is basically every investigator). Elder de los Cobos and I printed out giant posters for all of our district leaders, and one even bigger for us, with the names of all of the areas that they are in charge of. We had all of the missionaries write on post-its the names and information of their investigators, and then put them in the spots for their areas. Every night we call them and ask about these people, and we have to add to it according to the new dates they put that day. It is crazy. Right now, the zone has 48 investigators with baptismal dates within the next 6 weeks. That is a lot of names to give follow up on, but we are doing it. After everyone put up their names, we committed them to baptize those people this transfer. President really liked the table that we made, and he asked me to send it to him. He is going to send it to everyone in the mission. Next we had a practice planned to help our missionaries know what to do when the invite to baptism, and the investigator says that they have already been baptized. My companion and I gave an example, and then had all of the missionaries practice. We went around listening to different lessons and corrected teaching, and gave advice to make the lessons better.

After the practice, my companion and I had a special musical number planned. I sang, and he played the piano. We did Come thou Fount. It was awesome, and we could all feel the Spirit very strong. We then invited those that felt like it, it share their testimonies and what they were thinking and feeling. Some Elderes cried sharing their testimonies, others shared how it was one of the most Spirit filled zone classes they have been a part of. We then invited everyone to write in their notebooks what they are going to do this month to become a better missionary. We then committed everyone to complete with what they wrote down. We finished with an activity to commit everyone to do everything that we talked about in the class. Everyone passed and cut off a piece of President's tie, and then signed it. We had to do something to him for coming to our class:) (Really we just had him change into a tie we had for him when he got there). Next month, we are going to take all the pieces of those that completed their commitments, and try to put his tie back together. He told us, that if everyone completes, and we put the tie together, he will wear it in the next mission council. It was great class:)

After the zone class, I traveled with President, his wife, and Elder Johnson (assistant) to Villahermosa. I was going on divisions with Elder Johnson. In the car ride, all three of them told me that it was one of the best zone classes that they've been to in their mission. President told me that I have grown a lot, and that he really loved the Spirit that was felt in the class. That was awesome to hear from them.

The rest of Friday I stayed in Villa with Elder Johnson, and we worked super hard. He walks very fast. It was a lot of fun. It was like the fifth time that I've done divisions with him. He is from Idaho, and he is one of my favorite missionaries. He is the only other missionary that I have met, that knows how to sing, so we had a lot of fun singing in every lesson. At night we stayed up late singing hymns together. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday we got up really early to travel back to my area, and I got to work with my companion in my area again. I now have a week here, but I've only worked in my area for 2 days!!!

Sunday we had an investigator come to church. His name is Roberto and he is 18. He has a baptismal date for this Saturday. We are working with him to get him ready!!! My ward is huge. We had 127 people at church!!! It was awesome. And, we have a ward choir!!!! It was super fun to practice with them on Sunday night. The sister in charge asked me to do sectionals for the tenors. We separated for 20 minutes and came back super powerful. The sister was very excited.

Anyways...this week has been crazy. My companion and I barely have time to be together. We are doing a lot of divisions to help out every area in our zone, but we are seeing results, so that's good. I have so much to do, but I feel really peaceful. Not stressed at all. We are always able to get everything done that needs to be done. Being a missionary is the best!!!

I Love you all so much!!!

Elder Cavenee

Pictures:

My Zone

Cutting Presidents Tie 

Birthday Week!

Family, (Note from Mary:  This is from March 1st, 2 days after Elder Cavenee's birthday)

How are you all doing? I hope that things are going better there back at home. It is wonderful to hear how much Jackson is progressing. I feel like everything is going to be okay.

Everything is going great here. This past week was super awesome. On Wednesday we had a special conference with President Morales. We all had to bring someone from our areas to practice with. It was a lot of fun. we practiced all 5 lessons from preach my gospel to members, less actives, and investigators that were brought by the missionaries. We brought a less active sister, and at first she didn't want to come. We convinced her to come, and afterwards, she thanked us a ton. She is going through some trials right now, and during that meeting/practices she found a lot of answers that she was looking for. She said that she really wished her family would have come too. It was a great experience to practice our lessons, but at the same time, feel the Spirit a ton.

After the practices we had a sports activity. We played volleyball with President Morales. It was super fun. We set up three teams and palyed King of the Court. It was so fun to play against President because he gets really competitive. He started making fun of all of us, and when we would score on him, he threatened to transfer us. At the end we played a tournament. It ended up with our team against his, and they beat us. So...we talked him into another game, and we won. He couldn't end like that, so we played another game, and his team won again. It was a lot of fun.

Last week, we had a less active family that came to church and they brought their neighbor with them, Ofelia. On Tuesday we went and taught her with this family, and she accpeted baptism for that Saturday. We worked really hard with her this week, and on Saturday, she was baptized. That was the greatest Birthday Present that I could have, and did receive. It felt really good to baptize again.

Saturday was my Birthday. I'm now 20 years old!!!! That is to crazy to think about. It was a great day. Elder Stoddard, Velazquez and Gonzalez woke me up super early and sang me las Mañanitas (Happy Birthday in Spanish). They bought me a little cake and had me blow out a match:) After the baptism we went to Hermana Niki's house. She bought Pizza, and made me a Nutella cake. It was super good!!! There is a crazy cake tradition here. First they sing to you, then you blow out your candles, and then you have to take a bite of the cake. But when you take a bite, they always shove your face in it. I was prepared though, and Elder Velazquez had to put all his weight on me to smash my face, and he succeeded. Then I learned how to dance Salsa and Bachata (latino dances). Elder Gonzalez, and Adrian (Niki's brother) taught me how. It was super fun. Hermana Niki gave me cologne, and Areli (Niki's sister) made me a scarf. It was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, Ofelia was confirmed. It was really special. We also had another investigator at church. It is the dad of an active family, that just had never accepted the gospel. He came to church on Sunday, and he has a baptismal date for the 12 of March.

At lunch on Sunday, for my birthday, the sisters made Carlote. It is a really good dessert. It is a layer of crackers, then a layer of some creamy yo-gurht type stuff, and then a layer of peaches. It is super good. Then later, we went to another sister's house for more birthday cake:) And yes, I got my face smashed again. I ate a ton of cake, but it was all super good.

Transfers came on Sunday night, and I got a call. I spent all night packing. This morning I got up super early to head into Coatza for transfers. I got transfered to Comoacalco, zone Cardenas. My new companion is Elder de los Cobos from México. He has six months in the mission, and we are the Zone leaders here. It is going to be am awesome area!!! This zone is twice as big as my last zone. I'm so excited.

Anyways, I am doing super good, and just loving life. I Love you all so much and am thankful for all of you. Thanks for all the Birthday wishes:)

Love,

Elder Cavenee

Pictures:

Practicing piano for Leadership Council on Wedesday

Birthday Cake with exploding Candle

Tree Selfie/Speaking in Church

Hey Family, (Note from Mary:  This is from Monday, Feb. 22nd)

I hope that everything is going super awesome for all of you. I am so happy to hear that Jackson opened his eyes! That is amazing. Really it is a miracle that he is recovering so fast. How is he doing now? Has he talked yet?

This week flew by really fast. It's hard to even remember what we did. On Monday after we finished writing we ran to the house to receive a new washing machine that came all the way from México City. Elder Stoddard and I had to lift it up to the third floor of the building using a giant rope. It was super heavy, and we almost dropped it. We finally got it up. It is a really nice washing machine. Now we can wash in the house!!!!

It was a pretty normal week. Not very much happened. We just are working really hard to try and get some people baptized. We are teaching a bunch of people, but none of them are progressing. It's a little diff
icult, but that's okay because the reward is even better at the end.

On Wednesday, I went to Nan-Chital to do divisions. It was really fun. Elder Stoddard went to Las Chuapas to be with Elder Engamenn and Elder Hernandez. I was with Elder Lezama and Elder Augilar. It was super fun. I stayed with them on Wednesday and Thursday. Came back on Thursday night.I like doing divisions and getting to work with other Elders in other areas. I learn a lot every time we do them. Our zone is getting so much better. We are nolonger the worste zone in the mission. We are in like number 9 out of 11. That's not to bad for being the smallest zone in the mission. It is a lot of fun being a zone leader, but stressful as well. I now have the hang of it though...so it is a lot eaiser.

Tuesday night we had a family home evening with a part member family. It was a lot of fun. We ate hamburgers...I made brownies, and we ate them with ice cream. It was great....and the best part is that one of the girls commited to be baptized on my birthday!!! That is the best present that I could get. If every area in the zone can baptize this Saturday.

On Friday, my companion and I decided to check out a part of our area where we have never been. A little pueblo outisde of Agua Dulce. We walked for like 2 hours on a dirt road, and got lost. I guess it was a lot farther than we thought. But we found this really cool tree, so we took some pictures:) We then found our way back. My companions legs were killing him on Saturday:)

On Sunday I gave a talk in church about the Holy Ghost. I shared this experience that we are going through as a family (not with all the details). I shared how the comfort of the Holy Ghost is real, and helps people through hard trials. He brings comfort and helps us to pass through those moments and come out stronger. I shared my testimony of this. Afterwards I had a sister come up to me that hasn't been to church in 2 years. She shared with me that during my talk, she felt the Spirit. She felt something that she had been missing the past two years. I talked to her for like ten minutes about the Holy Ghost and how we can feel it more in our lives through our obedience to God's commandments. Going to church and participating in the sacrament is a Spiritual recharge for every week. It is something that we need in order to function and face the trials of our lives. If we faithfully do everything that we know is right, and repent everyday for our faults, we can feel the Spirit more in our lives. He becomes a real friend, with us in every moment that we need Him. He has become a close friend of mine.

Sunday we had a record of 56 people that came to church. Two less active families that we have been working with came!!!! And....they brought their neighbor. We have a lesson with them tomorrow. Our ward is starting to grow, and members are starting to bring friends and neighbors to church. It is awesome.

Anyways...I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week. Jackson...keep up the good work. I'll be talking to you in a couple weeks:).

Love,

Elder Cavenee

Pictures:

The road that we followed to the little Pueblo

Selfie in a Tree

Love

Hey Guys,

I know that we are all struggling right now....but I know that everything is going to be okay. I want each and one of you to know how much I love you. You guys are the most important people of my life. Close your eyes and pretend that I am giving each and every one of you a big hug. I LOVE you guys.

I know God gives us trials only to help us become stronger. And through those trials, we do become stronger. I know our family has continually been strengthened by all of the things that we have passed through together. After all this is over, we will be even stronger.

Saturday for me was by far, the hardest day of my entire life. As I'm sure it was for you guys as well (or Friday). I think I went into shock...the rest of the day I felt like I was going to wake up from a really bad dream, and that everything was going to be fine and normal. But it didn't, and I've had to face the reality. To make things worse, our baptism fell through. I didn't understand why.

On Tuesday, we went with a member to visit a inactive family. We had a really nice lesson with them teaching them about the Sabbath day, and the blessings that come from participating in the Sacrament every week. It was a very good lesson, and this family of 16 committed to come to church on Sunday. As we were leaving, they all got excited because one of their brothers had just turned nine, and he wasn't baptized yet. They asked us if we could baptize him on Saturday....so we planned everything out and visited them every day to teach him, and make sure that everything was okay. When I talked to you all on Saturday, I was banking on that baptism to lighten me up and give me a boost. I felt like is was a tender mercy set up beforehand by the Lord to help me out that day. On Saturday, when we went to pick up this family, the aunt (she is the one that takes care of the boy) told us no. The entire week she was super excited about his baptism, but that day she would not let him. She wouldn't tell us why....she just said No. I was very confused....and a little angry. I felt like at this point God was just up there making fun of me, while watching me suffer. We went home, and I got on my knees and prayed for almost 2 hours. During that time, I was just filled with peace and love. I was really comforted. After that, my companion and I headed out to work.

On Sunday morning, I woke up and started to remember everything again. I felt alone, and sad, and didn't feel like doing anything. We left the house at 7:00 to go and look for investigators and bring them to church. Once again, trials. Not a single investigator was home or awake, or came to church with us. Once again I was filled with thoughts and feelings of ''Why am I here?'' ''No one want to listen to us.'' But....while I was sitting in Sacrament, I was praying very hard. Thinking about our Savior Jesus Christ. He has felt it all....He knows what is going on in each one of our lives, and He is here. With each and every one of us. I feel Him and His Love. I know He is here to give us the strength that we need. I Love Him.

Now I am doing well. My companion and I have a lot of plans to keep me busy and focused. I feel like I have recieved an extra amount of strength. I will be okay. I am praying for each and every one of you.

Teaching a Lesson

Jackson.....I Love you. You are the best little brother anyone could ever have. Your light and radiance is something special that you have, to help other people. So many people have been touched by you. So many people love you and need you. I need you. You are my example. Whenever I get sad here, I always think of you... and your light. I am praying for you so hard right now. You are going to make it through and when you come back, we will all be there for you. I Love you. I love how you sing. I love how hard it was to wake you up in the morning. I love how you were always there to cheer me up. I love how you are always positive. I love how different you are. I love how you love and care for everyone. I love how you don't judge and you see the best in everyone. I love how pure you are. I love your smile. I love your desire for adventure. I LOVE YOU JACKSON. You are my hero. So many people love you and you have touched the life of so many. Your mission is not done yet...so come back, please. Whatever fight you have left in you...keep pushing. Our Heavenly Father loves you and so does Jesus Christ. Know that and feel it.

For all of you out there that may at times feel alone....remember that you aren't. God and our Savior Jesus Christ are always here with us, to help us. He loves you. He knows you, and he is there to help you. I Love you:) God gives us trials, but if we have faith in Him, and we push through...the blessings that come are unimaginable.

On Tuesday we had interviews with President Morales. It was nice to talk with him for a little bit. At the end he told me something very nice and it made me feel really good. As I was walking out he stop
ped me and said ''Elder Cavenee...I Love you. I know I am not your father, but to me you feel like my son. You look like me (except for the handsome part) and I love you alot. You are going to do a lot of great things. Keep working hard.'' It was really nice to hear him say that. Then again after talking to you guys on Saturday, I talked to him and he told me ''Hang in there my son. Everything will be alright.'' I am recieving a lot of help right now.

We can make it through this. Keep praying and don't give up hope.

Working with members is awesome because they drive you everywhere!

I Love you all so much.

Elder Cavenee

Pictures:

Teaching a lesson

Working with members is awesome because they drive you everywhere

13 Months!!!

Hey Family,

So.....yesterday I hit 13 months!!! Man, time is just flying by. It is crazy to think that a year ago, I was getting ready to head out of the MTC to come here. A lot has happened since then:)

It is great to hear that you are all keeping so busy. It's a good way to stay out of trouble. Just fill all of your time doing good things. Mom....teaching the gospel is the besst thing in the world. Weather it is to youth, or to people that you don't even know. It brings peace to the soul and really strengthens your testimony.

I love music. Every morning I wake up to beautiful music that just helps me prepare for the day. And every night when we get home, we put it on again. It really helps me relax after a hard, and stressful day. I like to listen to it as I am going to bed. It helps me have a clear mind and to sleep well.

This week was awesome, but very stressful at the same time. I felt like a homeless missionary this week. I got to travel a lot. On Tuesday afternoon, my companion and I traveled to Coatza. We worked the afternoon with the Zone Leaders of Puerto, and then stayed the night with them. On Wednesday we got up at 3:30 to take a 4:30 bus to Villahermosa for Mission Leadership Council. We got to go to the Temple!!!! I LOVE the Temple. I was able to get some answers that I was looking for. Personal, and for our zone. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in the temple, but in that short time I recei
ved a lot of revelation. We then headed back to the mission offices, and had our council.

We talked a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As missionaries we have improved a lot in teaching repentance and the Atonement to our investigators, but what we talked about is if we are really applying it in our lives. President said ''Right now, we are acting like missionaries just waiting out the rest of our time. What we lack as a mission is repentance''. We talking about how real repentance requires feeling. Are we really feeling for the things that we are lacking every day? Not only focusing on the things that we are doing wrong, but the things that we are only doing half effort. That put me to thinking. A lot of times when I don't meet my daily goals, I think..''Oh well....I'll get it tomorrow''. Instead of really feeling bad that I didn't complete with what the Lord asked of me for the day. I have been applying that, and the atonement has taken a new meaning in my life. It is amazing what you can feel, repenting from something simple like not doing all of my contacts. It really creates a desire to do even better and not fail in the very small things.

During the meeting, Sister Morales asked me to give a special musical number at towards the end. I played my arrangement of ''Sweet hour of Prayer'' on the piano. It was really cool.

I got to see Elder Lopez during the meeting (he is a zone leader now). He is the one I had problems with in Frontera. He came up to me afterwards, and asked forgiveness for the problems that we had together. I also asked for forgiveness from him, and we gave each other a big hug. Really, I've missed him, and I feel like he is going to be a lifelong friend. He is really a great guy.

After council, I stayed in Villa with Elder Thaller (from my generation). We worked with the Assistants. I went out to work with Elder Johnson. He is a really cool guy. He is from Idaho, and only has two transfers more than me. We had a really great time.

"Mexican Parking"

We were out looking for a family that he had an appointment with. That fell through, and so we were just walking around looking for people to teach. We reached a street corner and paused for a minute, when I felt to ask him about some people that we talked with the last time I was with him. It turns out that we were right around the corner from them. We went, and visiting there was another family of four that accepted baptism. It was really cool. Another witness that the Spirit is always watching out for us, and if we listen, will guide us to where we need to be, when we need to be there.

I stayed the night with Elder Thaller in Villa. In the morning, we went to immigration to renew our visas. We have been living illegally for the past month because our visas expired at the beginning of January. We went downtown in a Combie and had to sign a couple papers, and they took our fingerprints. We finished at about noon, and raced to the bus station to try to get back to our areas by nighttime. We were on that bus for six hours! On the bus, Elder Engamann (Elder in my Zone) called me and told me that his investigator that was supposed to get baptized on Saturday didn't want to anymore. So...we got to Coatza, and I jumped on another bus to Las Chuapas. Was on that bus for another hour and a half. It was a long bus day. Almost eight hours traveling on a bus.

On the Bus

When I got to Las Chuapas I went with Elder Engamann to visit his investigator. We had a really cool lesson using the book of Mormon. He felt the Spirit, and then we prayed with him. He asked if he needed to get baptized and he got an answer YES. I did his interview and he got baptized on Saturday. It was awesome. I spent the rest of the night with Elder Engamann, and stayed at his house.

On Friday morning we traveled back to Agua Dulce early to be on time to zone class. I taught zone class and it was really fun. We did several activities to help us in our teaching situations, and we practiced using the Book of Mormon to help our investigators have a converting experience.

Saturday, we found a family with eight kids within the ages of 8 and 14. It is a huge family. Tons of cousins that live together. We had an awesome lesson with them. We will see how they progress.

We are really struggling in our area right now. It is a little frustrating because the other area in Agua Dulce is baptizing every week right now. We are struggling just to find people that will listen to us, and they have people showing up at church asking to be baptized. It is very hard because my companion and I are doing everything we can, and are being obedient, and we aren't having success. While the other Elders aren't being very obedient, and are baptizing like crazy. Last night, I was watching the teaching videos and one came on about patience that I really needed. It talked about how it is very easy to see the fun that others are having, and to give up on the good that you are doing in order to participate with them. But, it is very important to hold strong, because the true happiness comes after the trials. After we have proved that we really want it.

Right now the temptation to slack off has been big, because those that are slacking are baptizing. But after the test, if we hold true, comes the real blessings. My companion and I are really praying for those blessings right now. So....all of you out there that are going through a hard time right now, HOLD ON. Stay true, and have faith in Jesus Christ. Things will get better, and if you hold true, there are a ton of blessings waiting for you. Ether 12:27

Anyways, this week has been super awesome. Lots of revelation and help from my Heavenly Father.

I Love you all and wish you all another awesome week.

Love,

Elder Cavenee

P.S. I would love to get letters from anyone and everyone for my birthday:) Just to hear how you all are:)

Immigration trip in Combie

Mexican Parking:)