I Don't Want Another Bite!!!!!!

February 23, 2015


HOLA FAMILIA!

Ok so this week was crazy. Like always. Ok so here`s the update on everything.

 

So Alonso... Our crazy investigador that lied and freaked out and everything. We met up with him on Monday to talk and see what the heck happened and get everything straightened out and see what he wanted to do. Basically he told us that he didn`t feel bad at all about lying to us or storming out of the branch president`s office and was just really really mad about that lady asking him to move. Also he brought us his Book of Mormon and tried to return it which obviously we weren`t going to accept so he just set it on the bench and went on his way. We haven`t seen him since. We were way way sad about everything that happened. We`d literally done everything we could to help this guy. Maybe we didn`t have the baptism though, but I know that I taught someone the gospel of Jesus Christ. I gave someone the opportunity to accept it and in the process it made him happy. Pride is a mean poison though that can erode away even the most sweet feelings and experiences. It`s really really sad. And it was really really hard for us to accept. But we can`t make decisions for others and we can`t drag them to church. That`s not the Savior`s way. But yeah moving on from that experience we`ve actually had a great week full of miracles. 

 

The next day we went to this pueblito, like an hour away by walking. Good thing there`s public transportation! The missionaries before had never had any luck out there but we didn`t have any appointments that day so we went to see what could happen. And guess what. The Lord blessed us for our efforts. We found a family!!!!!!!!! And not just any family. This family is super special because the mom is deaf. Like legitly deaf. And so is the dad, only he`s deaf from a motorcycle accident so he can hear a little if we talk really loud. So we basically have to communicate with them through the daughter who`s 9 who then talks to them with sign language. And Spanish sign language is different from American sign language..... Fun fact of the day. But they`re awesome and we`re going to go teach them again tomorrow. I`m really excited to see how they`re going to progress. We are going to need A LOT of support from the branch, especially when they come to church. But this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I have a lot of faith that everything is going to go great. I`ll let you guys know what happens with them!

 

Then, cutest thing. We have lessons with a recent convert, Javier, who`s basically one of my favorite people. He`s so funny and he just loves being Mormon.  But he`s really poor. Like he doesn`t always have money to have enough food. And he finds stuff in the garbage and then sells it for money. So this week he found this cool wooden cigar box. It was so cool that he wasn`t going to sell it and just keep it. But then he didn`t have anything to eat for breakfast so he told us that he was praying and praying and that he knew that God would provide a way that he could eat. So he leaves his house to go somewhere, look for work probably and he has this feeling that he should bring his cigar box with him. He put it in his pocket but then was like no, I need to keep it in my hand. He`s waiting at a bus stop and a guy comes up and sees the box and is like how much is that box, I`ll buy it from you. Javier is like woah, that was a really fast answer to my prayer! And he`s like 4 mil but then he feels like he should change it to 3 mil and does and the guy buys it off of him right there on the spot!! So he went to a store and was able to buy himself bread and a coke. You should have heard him telling us that story! He was so excited! He was like I KNEW God would come through! I knew he`d help me! He outdid Himself! hahaha it was super cute. Also he had the baptism ordinance done for his daughter who died, and he said that he said a prayer afterward and that he just felt like really really amazing and with a lot of peace and that he knows that his daughter is ok now and at peace. How sweet is that?! Aw, he`s just awesome.

 

Ok....Funny story time.... 

We had a lesson with Luis, the little old man who got baptized in December. He doesn`t really have chairs so we always just sit on a little coffee table he has. Ha! welcome to Chile. Anyway, we stand up and it turns out he had this little tanax gun (which is like one of those squeeze tub things of bug spray killer) that had leaked out while we were sitting and our skirts were covered in this very smelly bug spray. Uhhhh. But the thing is that he lives toward the bottom of the hill, we live at the top and we had another appointment right then at even lower down the hill. So we could not go back and change. So we went to the appointment and the smell is just burning our noses. But there was nothing we could do! Luckily the lady didn`t say anything. She was kind of sick though so I don`t think she could smell. Blessings from heaven!!!!!!!!! But then we`re at the bottom of the hill and there`s an investigador there so it was just better time sense to go see if she was home right then because it`s not like we`re down in that area every day. Well she was home and let us in so we taught her and her son. It went fine and great, she gave us juice, but the juice was even bad just because we could smell the bug spray. They didn`t say anything either so I`m hoping that they were sick too. Maybe it was just really strong for us because it was on our clothes. But afterward we booked it up that hill and changed. Nothing like being covered in bug killer spray. Nice.

 

Then yesterday was just crazy! So we were expecting 4 people to come to church. Church starts 15 minutes late mind you. And not one of them is there. Our ward mission leader says no one came and we`re like thanks for pointing that out. But then during the middle of the first talk, this old man walks in and starts talking really loudly to a lady in the back and we turn around and it`s DAVID! He`s this old man that we taught for the first time Saturday and invited him to church and he came! With his very tall wooden walking stick and everything. AND he stayed for all 3 hours! And he liked it a lot! BLESSINGS!!! Then we went to lunch where we ate a really big plate of alfredo noodles and avocado salad and for dessert ICE CREAM! They gave us two bowls full. It was a lot but worth it because it was yummy. Then we leave and find that it`s really hot and we don`t want to climb up the hill. Then I remembered this kid that I gave a Book of Mormon to a few months back that lived near so we went to see if he was home and he was there and we were talking to him out front and his mom says why don`t you invite them in to have a drink and we`re like yes! So we went in and taught the kid, his mom and his brother. The mom gave us leche con frutilla (strawberry blended in milk. Basically like a milkshake) And raspberry merieng cake. We couldn`t say no. We were dying of food and sugar overload. Then we had to book it up the hill because we had a cita with a recent convert who told us she`s going to give us once (it`s like tea time). And it`s hot and we`re like bursting. But then this guy in a collectivo that`s driven us a bunch of times passes by and says hermanas! Get in, I`ll take you up! BLESSING! He didn`t even charge us. So we make it. We`re teaching and the lady brings us once. She brings out two plates filled with mashed potatoes and chicken. We`re just like no. no. no. AND she has pan amasado which is like big pieces of chilean bread AND avocado. Oh. my. gosh. Luckily I asked her for a grocery bag and when she wasn`t looking I put it in my bag and then when she got up from the table we were able to put half in the bag. Literally we were dying. We just hurt. But then we had to go to a family home evening that we had with Nora and Juan and Javier, all recent converts. Meantime, our district leader called us and says have you guys invited anyone to be baptized today because we did. And we`re like ahh how are we going to be able to invite someone to be baptized we have a noche de hogar right now. So we go over to hermana nora`s and guess who`s sitting in there. Maria Cristiana. ONE OF OUR INVESTIAGORES!!!!!! Turns out they`re old friends! We`re like we have to invite her to be baptized. We`re like how do we change the conversation to that.. Bring it to Javier who just starts talking about his baptism and how he wants the baptism for his mom to get done in     the temple. It was perfect so we invited her! She said that she wanted to pray about it, which is fine because you should pray about it, but she didn`t say no! Actually it was funny because she was trying to teach Javier about baptism. (She`s very Christian). But then for the family home evening we had made them no bake cookies, which in Spanish they call ``caca de mono``. Don`t ask me, I didn`t start that. But we had a good time laughing about it. hahahahahaha. But yeah. yesterday was just CRAZY CRAZY!!! But it`s awesome how much things can change in a week. AW I love the mission!!!!!!!!! 

 

I hope you guys have an awesome week this week! I love you!!!

Con todo el amor en mi corazon,

Hermana Evans


chicken and mashed potatoes



Sister (recent convert) who made the delicious dinner
 

having fun at the once

Nora and no bake cookies

Bird in the house and in the make-up bag!

 

La Mano de Dios!!!!

February 16, 2015

 

Hoolllllaaaaaaa faamiliaaaaaa!

 

Ok so this week was just CRAZY. Ok well actually the week was pretty normal and boring (except for a root canal.. woohoo!) until yesterday.... oh. my. gosh... Yeah so I'll fill you all in.

 

 The week started off good and normal. We went to this artesian feria (it`s like a flea market thing) and it was super cool! They had stuff from all over South America! I found a really pretty necklace with this stone called lapis lazuli that`s only found in Chile and one other place in the world, like Africa or something. Super cool.

 

Cambios were last week and we STAYED together! We were way happy! I wasn`t ready to leave yet either, there`s just so much that needs to be done here. So it was a huge relief. But also it`s weird how you usually know what`s going to happen for cambios even before you get the call in the morning. You can usually just feel it. And we both felt that we were going to stay together and we did. YAY!

 

Then I went for the darn root canal. Root canals suck. They really do. Going into it I didn`t believe it was going to be bad at all. And it`s not like it was bad but it was extremadamente uncomfortable. And they did mine in two parts (no clue why) so it was like right when you start feeling a little better you go right back in for them to torture you again, I mean finish it. I still have another appointment on Thursday for them to close my tooth up. BAH I`m just ready for it all to be done. But I have my pain medicine and I can still work so it could be worse.

 

So yesterday our investigator Alonso who`s crazy was suppose to get baptized. We show up to church (cool story: We`re walking down to the church which is at the bottom of the mountain, I mean hill, and we live at the top. We`re walking with Nora who`s that sweet old lady that I`ve sent pics of, and this guy on his way up stops and offers to take us down in his car. Turns out he`s the husband who`s not active of a lady in the branch. So that was way nice of him. We were very grateful) and Alonso shows up. Perfect! He`s there way early like always and takes a seat in a pew in the back. We`re talking with the other members and stuff and then we notice that Alonso is gone and so we go look to see where he is and we see him outside talking with our leader missional. We`re like oh man. What happened? We go back in though and then a few minutes later Claudio (the leader misional) comes in and tells us that apparently this crazy menos activa lady came in and told Alonso that he had to move because he was in ¨her pew¨ or something like that. (I`m like ok first you don`t even come every week so you really can`t even call dibs if you wanted to.. whatever) But Alonso got REALLY OFFENEDED by that. And stormed out and said that he`s never coming back into the church because he doesnt`want to see her face. So then we go and try to talk to him and explain everything and he is just like no. I`m not going back. We talk about Christ and everything and he is just not having it. And he storms off up the hill. We keep standing there and wait to see if he`ll come back and he does after a few minutes and is like I`ll go back for you guys. So we go back in but  the sacrament is being passed so we have to wait outside for them to finish passing the sacrament. We go in and sit on the other side. Now he`s like can I still be baptized and we`re like yeahhh probably. Afterwords we had him have a little interview with the Branch Pres. to make sure that he`s ok, that everything`s ok, to just talk about what happened and the baptism and I guess in the interview Alonso just totally interrupted the president and said ¨AM I getting baptized or not??!!¨And the branch president said that`s really up to you, but we weren`t able to announce it in sacrament because you left so we just have to tell everyone about it now and then Alonso just freaks and is like no, then just forget it and storms out of the office and comes into the class to say goodbye to us and just leaves. Come to find out, Gabriela tells us that she`s also seen him smoking all last week. And that is honestly what really hurt because we`d be asking him if he`d been smoking, and we told him he can`t be baptized if he smokes within a week of the baptism, and he`d told us everyday that he hadn`t smoked since we taught him about the word of wisdom. Now to know that he`s just been lying straight to our faces was a little bit of like a punch in the face. We did nothing to deserve being lied to, especially over something as dumb as smoking.  We just want to help. So obviously, he didn`t get baptized yesterday and I honestly don`t know if he is going to be getting baptized anytime soon either. He called us after church and asked if we could meet up today in the plaza? And we were just like no, we can`t. We needed time and we felt like he needed some time too so we`re going to see him tonight. But it just hurts you know? We were doing everything we could for him to help him, we`d seen changes in him, he`d always been so grateful for learning about the gospel and then he wasn`t even honest in the end. BUT I do have to say that it`s really cool how everything did happen. Maybe we didn`t know at the time that he wasn`t ready to be baptized but God knew. I don`t know why that crazy less active lady asked him to move but good thing she did. I don`t know why we felt like he had to talk with the branch pres but good thing he did because we found out that he wasn`t truly ready and that Gabriela was able to tell us that he`s been smoking. While I want with all my heart for everyone to be baptized so they can enjoy so many more blessings, I don`t want them to do it unworthily, and I definitely don`t want to be responsible for that. So really everything happens for a reason. So it`s really totally fine. He`s just crazy. But it`ll be interesting to see what will happen this week with him.

 

Besides that whole fiasco everything is great here in Viña. I have an awesome district and an awesome area and I`m really excited to just keep finding more people to teach and help come to know the love that God has for them. I really am so happy here doing this work. It`s just great.

 

I love you all! Have a great week and look for God`s hand in your life! When you look, you find it and it`s SO COOL!

 

Con todo el amor en mi corazon,

Hermana Evans

 

The moon off in the distance

 

Alonso

 

 

 

 

I Hope Your Children Become Architects!

February 9, 2015

Hola familia!

I hope you guys had a great week.  This week was pretty great.  I`ll catch you up on everything.

 

So a few weeks ago we were walking up the street and this guy walks by and is like ¨Good night!¨ in English, but no one says good night at 6, it`s good evening.  So we corrected him and he stops and looks at us and is like No, Good night. And we`re like no, it`s good evening and then he started speaking very bad English with us. We just figured that he was drunk and crazy so let him just go on with his day. Then a few days later on intercambios the other Hermana that came to our area contacted the same crazy and he was like yeah I`ll meet with you guys. So we went Sunday to meet with him in this little plaza place and we were able to teach him and put a baptism date with him. (I may have already mentioned that to you guys.. We taught him after Gabriela`s baptism) Anyway so we`ve been meeting with him a few times these past weeks and he`s come to church! He gets there at 8:30 in the morning even though we`ve told him that church starts at 10. He just likes to be punctual. Anyway it`s so funny teaching him because he`s crazy! I mean he`s great, but he`s crazy. He actually was hit by a truck years ago and now his knee is messed up and it`s hard for him to walk, especially the hills and he has a little brain damage from the accident. So that`s mostly why he`s a little crazy now. He just shoots off with the most random stuff sometimes in the middle of lessons. This past week he`s been telling us to take bananas blended with milk after we run in the mornings, para las calambres (for the cramps) haha or the other day as we were leavings he`s like I hope that you`re children become architects. I`m not sure what that means but I really do appreciate his well wishes. But honestly, Alonso is awesome. He`s one of the chosen ones. He`ll be the first person that I`ve taught that`ll get baptized in 3 weeks which is the fastest someone can get baptized in our mission (they have to come to church at least 3 times). Everyone in the branch was like aww but he has a really bad smoking problem don`t bother (I`m just like have you met Gabriela?? Smoking can be overcome.) But since the day we taught him word of wisdom he says with a little effort he can stop. And he seriously hasn`t smoked since. And the other day he was telling us some random story about something by the church building and he described it as OUR church. Like it`s his church too!! Ahh that just made me so happy. Also it was so sweet. When we were teaching him about repentance I asked him if he`s felt like he`s changed since he started learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ and he said yes and I asked him how has he changed and he goes Ï`m the happiest that I`ve ever been in my whole life.¨ Ok is that not the most heart warming, joyful thing you`ve ever heard??? It just filled my whole being with gladness!!! Honestly that is seriously the best thing that anyone can ever tell me as a missionary. That with the gospel they feel the happiest they`ve ever felt. Because that tells me that they are not only listening but applying it and that they are feeling the same happiness that I feel. That the happiness of the gospel really is REAL and it`s something that EVERYONE can feel, if they really want to. Alonso had is baptism interview yesterday and he passed! So he`s good to go for Sunday! Only I`m a little worried because we have cambios AGAIN on Wednesday! I seriously can`t believe how fast this change just flew by! And I really really really really really really don`t want to leave. Not now. So I`m really praying that I stay. But I`m grateful for the mission presidente that we have because honestly I know that he would never do anything contrary to the will of God so if I do change it`s because that`s what God wants and so that`s fine with me. But if you asked for my personal input, I really hope I stay.

 

Also are you ready to hear the coolest miracle ever??? So Thiare, Gabriela`s daughter, fell down the metro stairs at the beginning of the week and broke her tailbone! So sad right, because that is just so painful. She`s been in bed on her stomach all week. They told her that she was going to be in recovery for 6 months! Gabriela showed us the xrays and you could see how the bone was just way messed up, facing in the opposite direction. OUCH! So she gets a priesthood blessing and then went back for the next doctors appointment a few days later where they took xrays again. THEY CAN'T FIND ANYTHING: NOTHING. AT ALL: It`s healed. I`m like oh my gosh that`s the kind of story they wrote about in the bible!! I mean what a miracle!! I`m so glad that they were able to have that experience, especially Gabriela being such a new member, because now their testimonies of the priesthood power are so much stronger. They know it`s real. When Gabriela told us at church I freaked out. So great! 

 

As far as my tooth, they`re doing it in 3 sessions so I went to the first last week and they basically just drilled a huge hole in my tooth and now I have to wait until Thursday for them to keep going on it. I really wish they could just do it all in one, I don't know why they don`t.. But I`m still alive, even if my tooth isn`t. We`ll see what happens. 

 

So well basically those were the highlights of this week!

 

Wishing you guys the best of the coming days! Until next week!

 

Love you all!

Hermana Evans

Un Ano, What????!!!!!!!!

February 2, 2015

 

 

Hola familia!!

 

I had a super great week this week! First off Gabriela got confirmed yesterday and so now she`s good to go! It was such a relief! I wasn`t that worried about her because she`s just progressed SO much but still you never know. She scared us though because we were talking to her and she was just telling us how she almost smoked the other day but didn`t but then she stops and gets all serious and is like Hermanas I have something I have to tell you guys and we`re like oh no. no, don`t tell us, no. And she`s like I ate the cookies we had for you guys. hahaha oh man. Normally I`d probably be pretty bummed about not getting cookies but in the moment I was so happy. I just hope she doesn`t make a habit of that..

 

Gabriela also got up and shared her testimony yesterday. It was honestly the sweetest thing. She shared a scripture and talked about what she liked about it. I just felt the spirit so strong. She seriously has come SO far. I really wish I could express to you in words everything I`ve seen and learned from her and her battle to overcome smoking so she could get baptized and do the work in the temple for her mom. But there`s just no words sweet enough that can convey everything--in English or in Spanish. I`m just so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for us to overcome every weakness and temptation and truly makes us new and better people. SO GREAT!

 

So I guess you heard about the root canal from the mission nurse.... YAY! haaaa. Actually though Hermana Kahnlein called me a few days ago and it`s been rescheduled for tomorrow so I will let you guys know next week how it all went. It only makes sense though. Last year I broke my front tooth in the MTC, this year I need a root canal. Thank goodness girls only serve 18 months, I don`t want to be around to know what would happen next year..

 

This week Hermana Hansen and I also celebrated our one year as missionaries!!! It was so awesome that we arrived together and we got to celebrate together. We celebrated with homemade quesadillas y donuts. We put a candle in the middle of the donut to blow out and everything. I really can`t believe that it`s been an entire year. The meaning of a year has definitely lost it`s meaning. I feel like I got here 3 weeks ago or something. It`s crazy. Also during our year celebration we found this HUGE spider on our curtain. Don`t worry though, like the mature, one year old missionaries that we are, we drenched it with tanax (bug spray) and tried to set it on fire with a match. It suffices me to say that it is dead. Like my tooth. ahhh sorry... I'm just ready for tomorrow to be over with.

 

Also I completed my dream of playing futbol (or as I used to say soccer) with real Chileans. We played (messed around really) in the most ghetto court I`ve ever seen overlooking the beautiful view of Viña. It was AWESOME. And if you`re not already enough impressed--I even did it in a skirt. WHAT!!

 

Now to close for the cutest thing ever that just melted my heart this week. So the Hermana Nora washes our clothes for us. She is literally the cutest most energetic old lady I have and will probably ever meet in my life. (She`s the old lady in those photos). So we went over to visit them (she and her son got baptized like a year ago) and she had all our little socks all over the table and was in the middle of folding them. So I sat down and helped her roll our socks and I was just like Hermana you do so much for us. Thank you for all you do and she was like oh mi hijita! ( I really wish you could hear her little high pitched old lady voice, it`s just the best) you guys work so hard all day long serving the lord and I want to work too! I can`t do much but I can do this and that makes me happy!! Seriously my heart just melted and I just had to hug that sweet woman. She is seriously the best.

 

Today we went to this super cool museum here in Viña. We saw this mummified body from like 2000 BC or something crazy like that. I was just like that`s probably the brother of Jared from the Book of Mormon. It was way cool though because it was all dated from the Book of Mormon times. And they even had Easter island stuff there too! So basically it`s been a great start to the week. 

 

Well I have to go but I love you all and I hope you have a great spider free week!! 

 

con todo el amor en mi corazon,

Hermana Evans

Big yucky spider!

Getting ready to celebrate year as a missionary

homemade quesadilla to celebrate!

 



First year celebration as a missionary! Her companion is Hermana Hansen.