July 6, 2020

Hola mis amigos!

Long time no write, yeah please forgive me. It's been hard to write during quarantine because I feel like I will really just bore ya'll with what we do because it is usually the same thing everyday. But some cool things have happened in the past few weeks.

We have a new president!! So I am now into my third mission president! Haha crazy right! President and Hermana Gillespie got her on Tuesday. And they seem super awesome I am super excited to get to know them.

The normal day to day stuff really hasn't changed. We still do the same thing and we still stay in our houses. We aren't teaching anyone currently so we cant visit anyone. So we really stay in doors....  it's been hard but you know what!? It's taught me a lot about patience and just faith. 

In these few weeks I have had to do exchanges with some other elders and it's cool to get to meet them and get to know different experiences. We have missionaries in my district that have served in Paraguay, Colombia, Chile, and the Dominican Republic and me in Mexico! So its super cool!

So I don't remember if I mentioned we do service every week for an older couple. They are the McIntyres. They are in the english ward but the english elders live really far so we do service for them. THEY ARE AWESOME!! They feed us every time. I have gotten steak twice! And hot dogs it's so good! But this last service he had a tree that needed pruning. So he told me and my companion to go get some hatchet and climb the tree and prune it..... so we did. Haha it was pretty cool! They are an awesome family. I don't know if I broke the rules by climbing a tree, so mom don't read this part. 

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! Well this fourth of July was a lot more eventful than last year in Mexico haha! So our new president actually gave us permission to get together as missionaries! The first time in like 3 months!! So I wanted to do a district activity! But we then got news that we couldn't use our cars only bikes. And the other 8 missionaries live 6 and 8 miles away. So you know what we did. EVERYONE BIKED!! We all really wanted to do it. So we made sure everyone had a bike and then everyone drove to the church here in Reedley and left the cars and bikes home. So for the sisters we actually dropped off our car to them and then took their bikes and rode them to Reedley. Let's say I got a little sunburned.... so yeah biked 6 miles this week. We didn't want the sisters to bike both ways so they took our car and drove it to Reedley and the. Only had to bike back. The activity was super fun! We ate hot dogs and chips and just got have fun. We then played some basketball. It was super fun!

Now for some crazy news. Looks like I am keeping the trend of Mexico cause you guess it! President called and I am getting transferred! Isn't it so funny how God works haha! I have been here for 8 weeks and I am leaving. I got a call from president on Saturday (I legit almost threw up when I saw he was calling) and he actually asked me to be a Zone Leader. So I am going to be a zone leader in a zone in Fresno. I leave on Tuesday. I am really sad to leave Reedley and my comp. But you know what after 11 times of this I have gotten pretty good at packing and leaving. But I am not ready to make this a habit again!

Sorry if that was super long, but it has been 3 weeks my bad. But something I wanted to share was just something really important. So we had someone basically try to ruin our testimonies this week. We found her contact and texted her. She seemed super nice. Then when we asked to visit, she went off! Just saying how we believe in crazy things, the book of Mormon is fake, Joseph smith isn't a prophet. She just kept sending and sending these messages. And man we wanting to just disprove her. Just show her how wrong she was! You know what we could've done that too! We could disprove her. But her heart wasn't in the right place. We then messaged her back calmly. This kinda hit me. That we truly need to be open to listening. We know these things are true, but we still have to be open to others and love others and be kind. With everything that is going on, everyone can say they have a side or they believe this or this. Well God doesn't choose a side. He just loves everyone and wants us all to be loved. He loves you. Now love your neighbor. That's it, it's that simple. Does not matter who they are. ALSO!! it's hard for me too, when I don't get along with someone its hard for me to be friends with them, let alone love them! But does that matter? NO! Help by example not by degrading, yelling, or trying to disprove. We all think differently, it's better to teach with something we all understand and that is the spirit. The spirit will help, you just have to be willing to let it teach through you. 

D+C 19:20 says 

Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.

Let the spirit guide. He will show us the way. He loves us. He loves you. Be humble and let him guide you!

Love you all!

Elder Cheney 

District fourth of july party

Me in the tree

ONE of the times we ate steak

And me and elder Wilson!

Sorry I dont take a lot of photos I need to take more.