Baptism!

This past week was crazy! This week we were meeting with Nicole just about every day to help her continue to prepare for baptism! All of the preparation was worthwhile! She got baptized yesterday!! It was definitely a special moment! There was great ward and friend support at the baptismal service! It has been an amazing experience to be able to help Nicole prepare for baptism. Before she learned about the church she wasn't a bad person by any means. She had already set good standards for herself. However, she was still missing that piece! (the gospel) It's amazing to see how the gospel can take an already "good" person and transform them into that much better! It strengthened my testimony that no matter what stage of life we are in, to what degree we've applied the Atonement; we can all become even better through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
Zone Conference was awesome! I really liked the focus on purpose. My testimony was definitely strengthened from Zone conference. Also, the surprise of watching "Meet the Mormons" was also super cool! It has some very powerful examples and stories. I especially liked the missionary mom segment because it is even another example of how the gospel can turn someone's life around!

Although Nicole got baptized yesterday, Sunday attendance dropped a ton from the previous weeks! The family that came last two weeks went out of town this past weekend. We originally had them scheduled Saturday but they didn't come and then didn't answer the phone. We were a little bit worried because out the blue no contact, but then we got a hold of them Sunday night and then found out that they ended up going out of Hong Kong and forgot to tell us; so we rescheduled them on Wednesday! The ward fast has brought such huge miracles! I truly believe the ward is coming together more and more every week! We have been seeing so many miracles! I read this morning in personal study about the 2,000 stripling warriors. I like how Helaman calls them his sons. They were truly a family, united in God's cause, and were given success. Castle Peak Bay is becoming like Helaman's army! I am so blessed to be able to be side by side with my brothers and sisters, united in God's cause! Obviously there are still plenty of challenges, and there will continue to be so; just as all of the stripling warriors were wounded. But I love the words of Joseph Smith "shall we not go on in such great a cause?" I love being here and being able to go on in such great a cause!
 
Til next week,
Love, Elder Cederlof

The work is continuing to progress every single week here!! I'm so grateful to be serving here at this time! Nicole is doing awesome!! She is so humble and her desire to learn is very strong! A-yung is still looking good for her baptismal date! 

 
Throughout this ward 40 day fast we have seen so many miracles!! From single people walking into the church to now, an entire family walking in! A family walked into the Butterfly ward last week. However, they lived in our area and they didn't get a chance to get their contact information. Fortunately, they came back yesterday! The mom didn't come this time, but we were able to teach the dad and two kids after church. They don't have any Christian background but have a strong desire to come and learn about these things. Such a huge blessing!! 
 

The ward is doing so awesome! Yesterday in testimony meeting members bore powerful testimonies of the ward fast and missionary work. It is such a blessing to be able to see the ward and missionary work coming together. The leaders are active in their callings and we are always talking of new ways or ideas in order to help the ward continue to grow. 

The past little bit studying about My purpose has continued to help my testimony grow so much! The thing that has stuck the most out to me is the fact that this really is God's work. If we will do it His way, we will get the results He wants us to. The journey of it all is simply aligning our will with his. The more aligned we can be, the more we can follow His plan for us. Through counsel from prophets, leaders, and personal revelation we can align ourselves. Giving God and His commandments priorities is most important. I really liked reading about that from last General Conference. We need to make the time for God. He isn't just an afterthought, or an "if I have time" type of a thing. But as us missionaries, members, and investigators work together to do that we have been able to see a lot of success. 

 
 Til Next week!
 Love, Elder Cederlof

Pictures!

 

As you know, our ward is doing the 40 day fast. From which we have already seen huge blessings from it. On top of that we decided to set a date for everyone in the ward to bring the person they prayed for to church! Bro. Tsang got up on Sunday and announced it. He also invited everyone to make the missionaries so busy that they only have time to teach!! I'm looking forward very much to that and I truly believe that through the things President Hawks has emphasized the entire time: planning, obedience, evaluation, working with ward leaders and so on; we truly can achieve that goal of being so busy we don't have time to find. That transformation has already started taking place.

We went over all the baptismal questions with A-yung to help us know how we can continue to help her prepare for baptism. She knows all the stuff and so we are going to stick with the basics in order for her testimony to continue to grow. For christmas my mom gave me a 25 day countdown thing. Everyday I would place a different picture of Christ in clear sleeves on a chart. Last week I was thinking about how we could help A-yung continue to have power to continue to baptism and beyond when all of a sudden I thought "wait, we can give her the countdown to her baptism!" We now will stop by her house everyday for about 5-10 minutes to follow up with reading, and give her that day's picture of Christ.

Nicole is continuing to do great! It is so inspiring to see someone that once they have learned the truthfulness, they are then willing to accept all the parts of it. Knowing that she needs to be baptised, she is willing to learn and trust in the Lord.

This past week Kelvin made a big turn around. Before he was still willing to meet but not a huge desire to progress. This last week we planned on teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, however, when we got there, we felt that that was not what he needed. We felt we simply needed to talk with him. We talked to him about his goals, hopes, and dreams. We talked about where he wanted to be in 10 years from now. We then talked about how the gospel will help him achieve all of those goals. He then set some plans and goals in order to change so that he can reach those goals. One of the things he talked about was how important families was to him. We talked about eternal marriage in the temple. He asked us if he could get married there!! We said it would take some work but if he was willing to put in the effort he could reach there someday!! He is now going to be bringing his girlfriend and some other friends to church with him as well. It was definitely an inspired lesson!  Love ya!

Love, Elder Zach Cederlof

 

Throughout our ward's 40 day fast we have been seeing miracle after miracle. It truly is inspiring to me to see the ward's faith. Nicole is doing awesome! She fasted this past week to see if she needed to be baptized in this church. She got her answer Sunday night. She now has a stronger testimony that she needs to be baptized. A-Yung is doing fantastic as well. We have several members that will call and see how she is doing and remind her to read scriptures! Seeing the desire of the members and their strong examples helps keep me motivated to everyday strive to be a better missionary. I've been learning so much from them and their strong examples.  I know that with the Lord's help we can do our part to plant and harvest the Lord's fields in Castle Peak Bay!! I'm so grateful for the gift of faith the Lord has given me. I feel that this entire time the Lord has been by my side. I am weak, but through Christ am made strong. The gospel is true!!

Love, Elder Cederlof  

Church was awesome! We had 6 investigators there and 5 less-actives. One of the Recent Converts we have really been working with brought a friend with her as well. We didn't have the chance to teach her after church but we scheduled her on Tuesday! We are definitely seeing the effects of striving to build a strong base with the ward. As the ward is prepared, the Lord will provide people to fill all the seats!! We definitely saw that come to true this past week! I think one thing that has made the biggest difference in helping Castle Peak Bay ward grow is a strong ward mission leader. Brother Jang has helped so much and is always there to help us when we need him. We are striving to build strong relationships of trust between the members and the missionaries. When not just a surface deep level of trust is there, but deep to the core kind of trust, we can more fully work together. There are many great examples here of putting the gospel first. Using their time to effectively magnify their calling. I can definitely see the power that magnifying your calling brings. Whether that calling be full-time missionary, ward mission leader, or member; realization and understanding your calling makes a huge difference!! I feel as though this ward is like a big rock that is rolling down a hill, every day, every week picking up more and more momentum!

Nicole is doing awesome! This past week we shared about the Plan of Salvation. She is super prepared. She wants a little more time before setting a baptismal date; however, she is doing great! It's amazing to me how receptive she is to the gospel.

Brother Au. He hasn't been to church in around 20+ years! Last week and yesterday he came to church! I believe the Holy Ghost has brought to his remembrance why he joined the church in the first place.

A-yung quit her job and is now able to come to church!! I know that Heavenly Father really really wants A-yung to join the church, as he does with all of his children. There have been so many miracles going on that have provided A-yung opportunity to start coming to church again and to have the desire to keep going! It truly is a blessing to be able to witness all of the miracles that are happening!!

Til Next week!
Love, Elder Cederlof

This last week has been absolutely awesome! There are so many things that I could talk about but I want to focus on just one or two. Both have to do with members and missionary work.
 

The first is just a testimony of the power of the temple. After a recent convert went to do baptisms for the dead a couple weeks ago, she has been inviting everyone she knows to meet the missionaries or learn more about our church! Before she went to the temple she was always willing to share and help us whenever we needed it but after, she has just caught on fire! She gave her mom a copy of the Book of Mormon, invited her brother and his wife to an activity, introduced us to two of her friends and will be working on introducing us to another friend this upcoming week! That is a powerful example of the importance of temples. As we come to learn more about the gospel, our desire to share it will increase. I really like the quote (I believe it is in Preach My Gospel) but it says something about the concept of a good way to tell if we are converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ is our desire to share it with others. I strongly believe that going to the temple is a major step in our "conversion" to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I have to go to the temple once a transfer. That is a great privilege.

The second is going back to the concept of progressive growth brings more fruit than spurious growth spurts. When Castle Peak Bay ward opened I had one major goal in mind. It wasn't the number of baptisms I wanted to have while I was there. My goal was based more on what I want the ward to become; the baptisms will follow. I feel that when the ward is strong and focused, results will come. The goal isn't to have a "fruitful" couple months or even a couple years. My goal is to support the ward in becoming a fruitful ward. Help Castle Peak Bay ward turn into a tree with deep roots, thick trunk, and strong branches that will endure through anything that comes its way. Yesterday I received a witness that the ward is changing. During the testimony section of sacrament meeting several members got up and bore their testimonies about missionary work. It was and will continue to be one of my most cherished sacrament meetings. The work is going forward as a boulder pushed off a high mountain!  Progressively faster and faster! I'm grateful to be a part of it!

Til Next Week!
Love, Elder Cederlof