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

This last week was amazing. This has been the best Christmas ever. The unity with the ward is continuing to grow as well as the love that I have for these people and the Savior.

 
We had 3 member visits this past week. The members are so strong and it is inspiring to me to see their desire to help push forward the Lord's work. One thing this past week that I was especially touched by was the member’s thoughtfulness. Not only did they want their own family to have a good Christmas, they also wanted to make sure the missionaries had a good Christmas as well. We went Christmas caroling with the ward on Christmas Eve. We visited an investigator and a recent convert’s house and with all of us crammed inside sang 4 songs. It was an awesome experience! The feelings of happiness, gratitude and love could be seen in the eyes of those we visited. Due to time we weren't able to visit some other recent converts we felt needed some extra "Christmas spirit." Therefore, Christmas morning we went with the recent convert we had visited the night before to share the Christmas spirit with another recent convert. After we sang, that recent convert wanted to come with us too and sing at other people's houses. We originally had planned to go visit 2 more people but neither of them were home. It so happened to be that one of Sister Chan's friends (non-member) was at home and said we could come over there. What a great opportunity to meet someone new! Our small group of people brought the Christmas spirit into this lady's home. Just as the night before, I could definitely see the appreciation and joy in this lady's eyes. Due to needing to meet with someone else, we couldn't stay long. However, the lady then invited us back! The Christmas season is a great time for people's hearts to be softened!

One of the biggest blessings that the gospel gives me is family. I know that wherever I am, I have family. I can't explain enough how much I love Castle Peak Bay Ward. I feel at home here. To me, I think that's a big part of God's plan for us. He wants us all too truly feel connected. But more than just connected, he wants us to feel like a family. A family in which everyone can lean on everyone else for support. It's the best environment for learning, teaching, growing, and loving. I feel that Castle Peak Bay is developing into that family. Our ward isn't perfect, but I strongly feel that we are headed in the right direction. As we truly Come Unto Christ, we will, through diligence and hard work, be perfected in Him. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be serving in this time in this place.

This past week went by fast!! I'm so thankful that I am staying here in Castle Peak Bay with Elder Black! We've been working really hard with the ward mission leader to plan and execute ways to involve everyone in missionary work in order to bring about the attitude of success!  Our ward mission leader is so awesome!! I think I talk about him every week, but that's because every week he just keeps stepping it up!! He understands his role and the wards role in missionary work and he understands our role as well. He has a lot of respect for the calling of a missionary and trusts in God's plan for missionary work. This past week two of the recent converts were able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We talked to them after, what an exciting experience! They both loved it! One had some questions about the temple and so we helped answer her questions. The temple truly is such a sacred place and it helps ignite the fire to want to serve others and continue to do missionary work! An investigator, A-Yung had a birthday last week and she invited us and a member to have dinner with her. Afterwards we shared about testimonies. It was an awesome experience to have us, the member, and A-Yung all share our testimonies. Later that week, A-Yung got sick. We called and texted to invite her to English class but she didn't answer.  The next day she called us back and said she was sick so she wasn't able to come. What a great opportunity to share about Priesthood Blessings!! I shared briefly about a Priesthood blessing and asked if she would like us to come give her a blessing.  She said yes! After calling and inviting several members in the area to come with us, everyone was either busy or didn't answer their phone. Then the name of a member that we hadn't thought of before came to our mind. She could come! It really was a miracle. She (the member) said that just an hour or so before we called her she was planning on going out but she said she all of a sudden got a feeling she needed to stay in the area.  Shortly thereafter, we called her! We went up and gave A-Yung a priesthood blessing! She started feeling better during the blessing! That experience strengthened my testimony that God truly does know His children's needs and wants to help. While visiting a recent convert, we brought Sister Lai and she brought her 8/9 year old son as well. We shared about the true meaning of Christmas and after sharing the story of the nativity, invited everyone to bear their testimonies. The last person to bear their testimony was Sister Lai's son. At just the tender age of 8 or 9 he bore a sincere, heartfelt testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and Savior. It was a very powerful experience. That example right there is why we all need to "become like little children." I'm thankful for this opportunity to be here. Christmas season is especially sweet. I can honestly say my love for the people has grown a lot since I first started my mission. They truly are my family. I'm thankful for this Christmas season to remind me even more about our Savior's mission. Til Next Week, Love, Elder Cederlof