Good Men Better!

October 13, 2014


Hello family!!

So I love the pics that you send me. Hahaha keep them coming!

I hope this emails finds you all good and well! This past week feels like a blur. I feel like I almost don´t have anything to say haha. We had cambios (transfers) but my compañera and I stayed together here in Limache. It was such a relief! I was worried that I was going to change but I have at least 6 more weeks with the wonderful people here! But things continue to be the same. We have wonderful investigadores that are progressing! We continue teaching them and it's so great to watch them grow and change in the gospel. It makes me feel like a proud parent haha!

This week we had our stake conference here. It was SUPER good! Our mission president spoke in the Saturday session and then he and his wife spoke together Sunday. Also Elder Zeballos, one of the seventy over Chile, and his wife spoke. It was my second time listening to them as we had a conference with them as a mission a few months back. They're super awesome!!!!

I really liked what Pres. Kahlein spoke about. His talked compared the Dream of Lehi with 3 Nefi 11, when Jesus cristo came to the Americas. In the dream, Lehi tried the fruit and then invited his family and others to come and try it too. When Christ came, the first thing He does is invite the people to come and touch his hands and feet. In both cases there´s an invitation for the people to experiment for themselves the goodness of either the fruit or of the Savior himself. No ones needs to convince them or use catchy or eloquent language. As the people follow the invitation that Jesus gave to Andrew in the Bible to come and see, they´ll know FOR THEMSELVES of the goodness that is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought it was a great message to get the members more motivated to share with their friends. Elder Zeballos spoke about the Atonement and it's everyday power to change us to become more and more like the Savior. I loved a quote he shared from a prophet that the objective of the gospel is to make bad men good and good men better. Also I loved a question he posed for us. ¨Why would we settle for the good when the best is within our reach?¨ He spoke a lot about the scripture in 2 Nefi that we are saved by grace after all we can do and how God doesn't expect anything more than our best effort. He knows that we can't do it all, but that we can do our best. This made me think of another scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 123 that I like a lot that says something like just do all that is within your reach and do it happily and then sit back and watch the hand of God do the rest. I just think that it is so wonderful that the gospel is not like some long list of do this and don't do that. But it's like this grand living thing that encourages us to be better. That tells us we REALLY can do it. And that we can do it happily! We don´t need to wait until we meet with some prerequisites. We can start right now. Right where we are. In a world where it seems like almost everyone wants to tear us down and tell us how good they are and how bad we are and that we are incapable of change, the gospel tells us differently. It says that you really are special. You really can do it. It's like the best self help plan ever. Especially because it's not even a journey that we take by our self. We have a Savior who wants to raise us up. The key is we just have to let Him. Gosh the gospel is just too good. I love it, love it, love it.

Also it´s actually starting to be spring here!!!!! I have tan lines on my feet! Hahah it´s crazy. This is like my first spring in a year and a half!

Well that´s about it. I´m sorry that I don´t have anything super exciting to report this week. But I'm happy and healthy and having a great time here with the people. I love you all!!!!! Thank you for everything!

Con todo el amor en mi corazón, 

Seester Evans

The Greatest Compliment Ever!!!!!

September 6, 2014

Hola familia!

Wasn´t this weekend just amazing!!! Man, I love listening to the prophet and his apostles. I feel recharged and with even more motivation to go out and share this marvelous gospel with EVERYONE.... Because let's be honest, there ain't nothing better!

. 

Hahaha.... mom thanks for asking about our investigadors! DJFrankyFly (as I like to call him, his name is Franco but we have two investigadores named Franco right now so it helps differentiate.... FrankyFly is the 58 year old DJ) He´s doing good. He comes to VAS (the aged single adults) family home evening on Fridays and he even came to the Sunday morning session of conference! His previous dates for baptism have fallen through but after coming to conference we're planning on inviting him again in our next charla (discussion). Hopefully all goes well.
 

Barbara is just made of gold. I love this girl SO much! She´s 23 and has the cutest little baby who´s almost 5 months. Gosh I just want to hold that little green bean every time we teach her. She´ll be baptized the 25 this month!! She´s so sweet! So she told us that she was going to come with us to watch conference at the stake center so we were waiting and waiting for her and calling her but she never came. We felt really sad that she was going to miss hearing the prophet. So that Sunday night we passed by her house to visit her and see what happened this morning. She answers and tells us that she watching it ALL on the internet in her house!! Is she the best or what?? She´s so cute, she was like I couldn´t remember how you told me to find the web page so I just googled latter day saints and I found it!! You wouldn´t believe how much stuff is on there to help you learn and understand!!¨ Haha just thinking about her makes me smile. 
 

Franco (the other one) also came to all the sessions on Saturday. I was beyond grateful for Uchtdorf´s message. He pretty much addressed and resolved and said everything we´ve been telling him this past month. I was like Pres. Uchtdorf knew Franco was going to be there and was speaking right to him. Then Eduardo .... something, who spoke in Spanish Saturday was just perfect for Franco to hear too! We´ve seen the most beautiful change in Franco over the past few weeks. There´s just more light in his face. We´ll meet with him tomorrow to hear what he thought of it all. He has a date for baptism the 25th as well!!!!

We also started teaching this man Luis. We had our second lesson with him Friday and we taught him the Restoration. He is probably the most receptive person ever. After describing the first vision and testifying of it, he goes, I don´t doubt what you´ve told me is true. There´s no other way. He´s gone through a lot in his life, he lost his 20 year old son some years back and still hasn´t recovered. He´s always been really religious but fell away from churches because he was confused about why all are different. We got into a really good discussion and we were able to testify of the restoration of Christ´s church for us. And then he gave what I´m sure is the greatest compliment I will ever receive in my entire life. He said that through my words, he could really feel and know that Christ loves him. I don´t even know what I said. But I felt so humbled that he was able to feel Christ´s love for him. He has a date for baptism the 26th of this month. 
 

We have lots of great things to come!!! Hopefully these people can continue keeping their commitments so they can be baptized at the end of the month. The one worry that I have that just gives me a great pit in my stomach is that this Wednesday are cambios. Which means there´s a change that I could be moved to a different area. I don´t want to go. I really don´t want to go. There´s too many people here right now that I just love and want to be here with them when they come unto Christ and are baptized. I don´t know if I´ve ever prayed so hard to stay. But it´s what the Lord wants right?? Hopefully he wants me here too. 
 

So conference this weekend. SO AMAZING!!!!!! I loved that now they´re letting people speak in their native language! How awesome! I bet the people in the conference center didn´t even need the subtitles, the gift of the interpreting of tongues was probably spread over them all haha. I especially loved that two of the talks were in SPANISH!! We watch conference in a separate room in English but for the Spanish we´d run down the hall to listen in Spanish. I can´t tell you what a joy it was to listen to them speak Spanish and to not only understand every word but for it to feel so natural to listen to the gospel in Spanish. He was saying some of the very words that I say everyday to the people here. It was too cool! 

So to answer your questions:  My favorites were Uchtdorf in the woman´s conference!!!!!! SO AMAZING!! And also his on Saturday. I also LOVED the talk by Lynn G. Robbins. Especially because he came and talked to us here in June so I felt like I was watching an old friend haha...I also loved the one by Jorg koknaldnlfk (ok so that´s not really his last name but I think it´s something similar) He was making me crack up with how direct he was. ¨If you can do something about it, DO IT.¨ Bahahaha. And I loved Bednar´s talk and the story about his sons. ´´and brothers and sisters, oh did he howl..´´ hahahah. But of course you know that the words of the prophet have to be the favorite. How amazing is it that of all the advice the Savior could give the world right now, it´s to follow His example. To walk as He walked. I don´t know about you guys but I felt the talks were a lot more direct this session and that the emphasis was in gaining our own personal testimonies. Finding our own answers and staying strong to them. It was all about strengthening and staying true to our testimonies continuously. How wonderful that we can receive our own personal revelation and know what is true and what is not. I also thought it was interesting that like 4 people at least used the scripture Helaman 5:12--build your foundation on the rock of Christ....where if men build they cannot fall. I felt like it was all about spiritual preparation. Now is the time. How wonderful is it that we can ask questions and that we can find answers. How wonderful is it that God listens. That our questions really are important to Him. And that he in turn answers. He sends us His spirit so we can come to feel the gospel is true and as we continue searching and using the tools of prayer, scripture study, family home evening, church and temple attendance, we can be strong and sure in our knowledge. The gospel is wonderful and never ceases to amaze me. I´m proud to be a member of La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. 
 

I love you all! Have a great week!
 

Con todo el amor en mi corazón, 

Hermana Evans

 

Intercambios in Olmue.  So Pretty!

My District of missionaries

 

Be Valiant!!!!!!

September 29, 2014

Hola familia!

Ahhhhhhh another week has passed and almost another month. I seriously can´t believe it´s like October... I have no clue where the heck this year has gone. It gives me a little anxiety thinking that there´s only like 3 months left of the year. 

 

The weeks go by so fast that I'm struggling a little to remember what even happened since I last wrote you. Well this week we did have a zone conference with Pres. Kahnlein and his wife. They are so awesome! Presidente started with talking about where we have our ¨mira puesta¨ or where/in what is our view. To what are we looking. It should always be in Christ. It was very motivational. Another thing he spoke of was the need to be valiant. I thought that was kind of an interesting topic to choose but when he started talking, he told us that he felt very strongly that this was the message the Lord wanted us to hear. He talked about being valiant as an attribute of Christ and that many times in life and missionary work we can be put in situaciones where there is a need to stand for what is right. I really liked the topic of being valiant. It made me think about how much good examples are needed because though it may not seem like a lot, the very act of being an example and standing for what we believe is an act of valiance (is that even a word? Whatever. I guess I´m a true Chilean now because I´m making up my own words haha) It may not seem like a lot but I firmly believe that when we stand and set an example we are also inviting others to stand and to be an example. It´s a silent way of saying, there´s no shame in not following what the world teaches, there´s a better way. I came away thinking of what I´m doing in the lessons/contacts in the street that SHOWS I know the church is true. Am I loving? Am I assertive? Am I confident? Am I Christ-like? Am I valiant? I think valiant is a little more than being brave, but being diligent and true as well. It was interesting because right after the conference we were in a lesson with a new investigador who brought us a nice cold glass of coke. I love coke. But one of the rules we have in our mission is no caffeine, which means no coke. So it´s always a little awkward saying no, especially because the people always get offended... so I just thanked her a lot and said that as missionaries, we don´t drink coke. She just kept insisting that we drink it. I know coke is not a big deal at all but obedience is obedience right, and I learned that being valiant, though it is noble, is very uncomfortable... haha so we just said no and put it on the table at the side. The lesson was a little rough afterward because I don´t think that she was pleased with us but at least we left the house feeling good about ourselves and not weighed down by regret. It´s totally a parallel for life. Sometimes because of the world we live in,  the gospel is not always a comfortable gospel. We have to step out of the comfort zone and sometimes stand alone. And we feel awkward and we could even think, aww, I might as well just do it, just this once, it won´t make a difference. But it will make a difference because afterward we´re going to feel the regret, we´re going to receive the consequences. But I don´t know about you, but I´d much rather be a little uncomfortable now and  without regrets later than the reverse. The gospel saves us from being weighed down by the rocks of consequence and the burden of regret. I know that as we live valiant to the truths and the standards we know to be true we will always walk away with heads high and hearts happy. 

 

Anyway besides from the conference this week nothing too exciting happened. We´re teaching this one guy, Franco, not to be confused with DJFrankyFly, this is another. When we first met him he had some really weird concepts of religion. When I asked him who is God, he told us that God is in all places but no place and that even at times he, himself, is God.  Quite a character. When I asked him what he does during the day, he told me that he takes walks and looks at the sky and drinks mate alone in parks. When we asked him what is happiness to him, he in turn asked us what is happiness? I´m not sure I know what this is, he said. But he finally came to church yesterday! And we had a lesson with him Friday that was one of the lessons when the spirit was the most strong that I´ve had in all my mission. We´re really trying to help him understand who is God and Jesus Christ, because if he doesn´t have that base, nothing more we have to teach him will resonate. Anyway Friday we were talking about how to recognize our answers to prayers. I had this feeling come really strongly to me that I needed to share my testimony of the truthfulness and the need for the gospel in my life. I opened my mouth and I just spoke. I can´t even remember what I said but as I was talking to him I was looking him straight in the eye so he´d know I had no doubt, and I saw something change. I know now I probably sound just as weird as Franco, but there was a difference. I don´t know what, but there was a difference. And then for the first time in like over a month of inviting, he came to church yesterday and is going to institute classes and is going to attend conference. We have a lesson with him tonight and are going to invite him to be baptized! Keep him in your prayers that he can accept the invitaticion!! The gospel is amazing. We all need it. It´s truer than true.

 

Well I have to go now, but I love you all! Until next week!!

 

GO COUGS!

 

Con todo el amor en mi corazòn,

Hermana Evans

The Strongest Medicine: Prayer

September 22, 2014


Hola familia mía!

I love hearing about your week. I´m so sorry to hear about one of your chickens, mom. I can´t say that I know if we get to have our animals we´ve lost in the next life. This isn´t doctrine or anything but I believe that they have to be there right?? Where else would their spirit go? But I am glad to hear that you gave it a funeral instead of eating it for lunch--you´re not completely a 19th century woman...yet ;)

 

But that reminds me. So this past week it was 18 de Septiembre, which is like their 4th of July only they celebrate it like crazy. It was like a 4 day weekend and everything. But one of the menos activas (less active members) that we visit invited us to come over and eat empanadas with her. So we went and she has this old oven in her back yard that she literally lights the top and inside on fire to cook. She says it goes a lot faster than the normal-ish oven inside. It made me think of something you would do! haha. But I can´t even lie. They were the best empanadas that I've ever eaten so I´m 100 percent on board with the horno del fuego! (fire oven).

 

But yeah, this past week was 18 de Sept. The day I´ve listened to just about every Chilean talk about since the moment I arrived here. It´s almost like they´ve got it confused with Christmas with how much hype there is about it. But really I think it´s more of an excuse to drink and eat a lot. We ate a lot of asado which is like Bbq and empanadas and mote con huesillo (but I stayed away from that last one.. I already learned my lesson with that and I´m not in the mood to throw up in a bus ever again, thank you very much). But now I can say that I´ve celebrated an dieciocho en Chile. Check that off the bucket list! haha 

 

To answer your questions before I forget:

 

1. Fleas. They´re terrible. I think the current count of bites I have right now is a rough 22! 

2. I have been nipped at a few times by dogs. I wasn´t super crazy about dogs before the mission but now I am by far convinced that cats are WAY better than dogs. I know hate is a strong word... but it actually might be the perfect word for these dogs.  

3. No, my fitted sheet is still in perfect shape.

4. Really it depends on how cold the night is to have a sleeping bag. For a few months there I was freezing cold during the night, but now it´s not quite as cold so it´s way better. 

5. We have pans to bake with but we don´t really bake so it doesn´t really matter. 

6. My tooth is doing WAY better. Seriously I really don´t understand what happened. Because it was bothering me more or less for like a week and a half. And then last week the pain was almost unbearable so I called the nurse but I couldn´t get an appointment until this week since no one was working the week of the 18th. I have great timing I know. So I was taking a lot of ibuprofen which didn´t do anything to take away the pain. What I needed was like Vicadin or something. And one night the pain was SO strong that I was just praying and praying and honestly thank you so much for your prayers too, because the next day, no pain. and the day after that, nothing, the next day, nada. I haven´t felt any pain or anything at all since last Tuesday. Honestly the power of prayer is way stronger than any medication. Seriously, gracias from the bottom of my heart. Hermana Kahlein, the wife of the mission president called me today to see how it was but I told her that I haven´t been in pain so we decided that for now we´re going to hold off on the dentist. Honestly, it´s a miracle. Thank you for your prayers! 

 

I was thinking a lot about prayer. Mission President Kahlein said something interesting a while back. He asked us to think of our last spiritual experience. So I´m thinking of a lesson we had a few days back where the spirit was really strong.... Then, he says that if the experience hasn´t been since the last time we prayed, we need to work on our prayers... That really opened my eyes because we all know that prayer is how we communicate with God and all those beautiful things we say about it in church. But I´d never thought about it as a spiritual EXPERIENCE. How cool is that? I read the Book of Mormon in Spanish now and one thing I love about it is that when the people pray, it doesn´t use the word pray (orar) that often. But it uses words like clamò (cried), suplicò (begged), ruegò  derramò (shed all of his soul) and more. These words or verbs, give a sense of more urgency, desire, and heart than just the word 'pray'. What verbs would describe our prayers? Do we really realize how much power are in our prayers? Do we realize who we are talking to? Do we understand the love He has for us? Do our prayers reflect the love we feel for Him? For me, this past week prayer was my strongest medicine. And for us it can be more than just medicine, it can be comfort, love, the first and last resort. It is so amazing!

 

Bueno, I think now I´m starting to rant so I´ll sign off. But know that I love you all and I pray, really pray, for you guys every day. I love, love, love you!!!

 

Hasta la proxima semana!

Con todo el amor en mi corazòn, 

Hermana Ebans

Pretty road in the middle of nowhere!

Street where I live

Flags everywhere celebrating September 18th (Chile's 4th of July)

Baking empanadas in a horno de fuego (fire oven)

Making empanadas with Hermana Laura Ella who is a less active
member of the church, but invited me and my companion to
celebrate 18th of September

Beautiful sunset in Lemache

 

Patience, Perseverence, and Blessings!!!!

September 15, 2014

 

 

HOLA QUERIDA FAMILIA MIA!

 

I hope this email finds you all happy and healthy!

 

My week this week was super great! Last Monday I got an interesting phone call from our zone leaders asking me to play piano the next day at a funeral in the otro pueblo. They didn´t have anyone there that knows how to play so we went. It was a beautiful service. The man had like 92 years so it wasn´t like anything dramatic. The daughter gave a beautiful talk about her family and it was all really centered on eternal families. I felt especially grateful at this time to have a knowledge of God´s plan for us. I thought I was just going to play the opening and closing hymns but then the grandkids of the man asked me to accompany them in 2 musical numbers. I don´t know if I've ever prayed so hard to not make mistakes!  haha But it all went well.
 

The Lord really is working his Milagros (miracles) here in little ole Limache. I don´t even know where to start. So the investigadores we´ve had for basically the past 2 months are doing the same ole same ole, not progressing. We set citas (appointments) and then they aren´t there. They finally are there but then they don´t have time. So I´ve been praying pretty hard to find people that will fulfill with their commitments and are ready to be baptized. So we´re walking down the street Tuesday and we walk by this girl with her cute baby and we say hi like always and continue on our way. And as we were walking I think why didn´t we contact her. She has a cute baby, that family should be eternal too. So I turned around and asked her if we could give her a card. (We´re using these awesome pass along cards right now that have questions like ¨How can I raise a strong, secure, and happy family?¨) So she was like yeah of course so then we just started talking with her and she was super nice so I asked if we could visit her in her house one day and she said yes so we put the day for Friday. Friday we went back and had the most pleasant chat with her. We introduced the Libro del Mormòn (Book of Mormon). She told us that her son is the most important thing and that she´s known a few Mormon families and they´re always really united and she wants that for themselves. And she lives with her mom and brother--do you know how amazing that is????? Because everyone here lives with their partners without being married. We invited her to come to church and she said yeah, she´d love to! And then we invited her to be baptized and she said yes!! And then get this. We called her the next night to remind her about church and she was like no don´t worry I remember. And then guess what! When we walked into the chapel Sunday, who was already there sitting in the front row?????? She was!!! Oh my gosh. Please keep her, Barbara, in your prayers. She is so precious!
 

Then last week we also passed by an antiguo investigador (past investigator) Margarita. She was in an accident of some sort so she has a little bit of brain damage still, for example she can´t read anymore and it´s hard for her to walk. But she has the most faith I´ve ever seen. She has this strong desire to follow Christ and she told us about some terrible things that have happened to her but when she´d pray she said she could feel Christ at her side. So of course we invited her to follow Christ´s example and be baptized and she said yes too!! And we invited her to church and she said yes! and asked if we could pass by for her. So we show up at her house Sunday morning at the time we said and she opens the door and tells us she overslept so she can´t go. I just thought ¨nuh uh, we did not just walk 25 minutes in the opposite direction of the church for you to tell us no. You´re going.¨ of course I just thought this. But she asked us if we wanted to come in for a minute to which I said yes! When we walked in I was like What do you mean you´re not ready??? You look perfect! Let´s go!¨ And she was like, like this?? Noo.. no.. but after a little more Chilean sweet talk we got her to agree but she wanted to get her jacket. So we´re waiting for like almost 10 minutes for her and I´m starting to stress right? Because I´m like I don´t want Barbara to get to the church and we´re not there and she doesn´t know what to do or where to go so she leaves and church starts in like 15 minutes and Margarita walks super slow and what if we can´t find a cab in time. So I´m like what the heck is taking so long and getting impatient. (Patience is the Christ-like attribute I´m working on developing right now..) And then sweet, sweet Margarita comes out in the most mixed matched outfit I´ve ever seen in my life. Bright red sweat pants with a pink and orange paisley shirt with this frumpy star sweater over the top and this hot pink floral scarf. And she has the most grand smile on her face. Literally she was glowing! I'm ready she says! She was just beaming. I don´t think I´ve ever seen a more beautiful sight. The fact that she put in all that effort because dressing herself can´t be easy with her disability, to look ¨nice¨ for the church was just touching. I could tell that she really wanted to wear something special and even though she maybe was a little off the mark for my personal fashion sense, I was so touched by the effort she made. How many times in my life have I just put something on quickly for church without a second thought? But she realized she was going to the Lords´house of prayer and wanted to do something special for that. I learned a lot from that frumpy sweater sweat pant combination. 

AND ok so we have this other investigador, Franco. He´s the one who showed up at church by himself like a month ago. I call him DJ FrankyFly because he works as a DJ Saturday nights. It´s actually hilarious that that was his job because he´s like this awkward 58 year old man. So he got this job as a DJ right after he came to church that one time and because he works at a club Saturday nights he never came to church again because he doesn´t get home until like 6 in the morning Sunday. BUT Friday night at VAS (the old single adult family home evening) He told us that he quit his job as a DJ because it was preventing him from attending church with us!!! WHAT?????????? I was in shock! He was just like yeah. MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn´t believe it. We have an appointment with him tomorrow so we´re going to invite him to be baptized! Keep DJ FrankyFly in your prayers too that he´ll accept a date and will be baptized too!

So basically it was just a week of miracles here. Really I know that the Lord hears our prayers. We´ve been fasting and praying fervently to have investigadores that progress the past weeks and it wasn´t until finally this last week that we are starting to see fruits. The Lord really does listen to us. When He doesn´t seem to be listening I think really He is just telling us. Just wait. I was reading in the Book of Mormon his morning about the sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger who are like the most amazing missionaries ever to exist and there´s a part where the Lord tells them bear your burdens with patience and then I will give you success. And that made me stop and think wait. Here you have these guys that want to go out and save Your other children, why isn´t it more of a they´re helping you so you´ll help them by not having afflictions. Like I´ll help you, you´ll help me kind of deal. But really how is it that we grow? Through our hard times. Through our afflictions. Maybe it´s our afflictions that prepare us for our successes. It´s our afflictions that make the successes THAT much more sweeter. It´s the afflictions that give the success value and importance. Through their afflictions the Lord molded Ammon and Omni and Aaron and Himni and Alma into the amazing example of perseverance and diligence and faithfulness that they are. So I realized that as I was fasting and praying and it seemed that no one was progressing and that my efforts were being wasted that the Lord was preparing these other 3 people for the gospel AND preparing me to teach these people the gospel. I have no clue what´ll happen in the coming week but I am grateful for this lesson that I learned and I have a strengthened testimony that the Lord does listen and really He is doing His work here in Limache as in the rest of the world. 

I love you all so much and hope you guys have a fantastic week!!!!!!! 

The church is true. 

Con todo el amor en mi corazòn,

Hna. Evans

The Fuerza Of The Lord!

September 8, 2014

 

Hola familia!!!

 

I hope this finds you all well and good! Here, it´s a beautiful day as the sun is just starting to break through the fog. We haven´t had sun here for like 6 days so I´m rooting that in an hour or so all the clouds will be gone and it´ll be a beautiful day! I´m counting down the days for Spring... haha.

Yesterday the time changed here so it´s nice having more light in the evenings. But I don´t think I ever remember the time changing in September, or at least at the very beginning of September... Did the time change there too?? Who knows, maybe I just have a really bad memory... It´s weird the things from home that I just can´t seem to remember anymore. My compañera was asking me what my favorite movies were yesterday and I couldn´t for the life of me remember hardly any.  The thought of sitting down and watching a movie seems like really weird. I don´t think I could right now.  I think it would just give me anxiety sitting and not doing anything for that long of a time! haha. So I guess it´s good that we have a lot of work to do here.

This week we had the ¨estand¨ which we had to do for 4 hours everyday. It´s this big stand that has a question like ¨How can I find peace and happiness?¨ ¨How can I know if God has a plan for me?¨ ¨How can I raise a family strong, safe, and firm?¨ and we just stand there with it and talk to the people that stop and ask about it. It´s a great idea but because Limache is more campo (rural) and less busy with people walking through the streets, we didn´t have that much luck. But we did find two really good future investigadores so I mean if even one of them gets baptized, it's definitely worth the hours of nothing. But I memorized a few hymns in Spanish during the time so it wasn´t for nothing. 

Because we were doing the stand all week that meant that we didn´t have as much time to teach and find new investigadores. But we did start teaching this new guy who went to school with one of the youth in our ward. He´s an interesting character. He´s read a lot about religion and philosophy. Like a lot. I´m talking everything from Greek and Roman philosophy to ancient Indian beliefs. And it´s like he takes it all as truth and so he´s concluded some of the weirdest things and his answers are always contradicting each other.. (When I asked him who is God, he replied with God is everything and everywhere and at times I myself am God.) But we taught him the plan of salvation and it actually went really well. He said that a lot of it seemed familiar to him. But if he prays, really wanting to receive an answer, I know he´ll get one. So we´ll just see where it goes. For the mean time I have to admit it´s kind of entertaining talking with him. Odd ball for sure, but a good guy none the less. 
 

Also Saturday Ignacio got baptized!!! This was the highlight of my week!! He was one of the investigadores that we were teaching when I was with Hna. Ulloque with ALL of Limache. He´s a friend of Rodrigo, one of the YSA in the barrio. Ignacio was a little duro (stubborn) at the beginning. Did I mention that he counts the tithing for the Catholic Church... But one lesson we had, he came to us and was like, I don´t want to get on my knees anymore, I know the church is the true church. I don´t want to wait, I´m getting baptized! And it was just like that. It´s kinda funny because I think we taught him the restoration like 3 or 4 times and it was just like he wasn´t getting the importance of authority and we´d always just be like pray about it. And that was the one thing he wouldn´t do... haha I would have to make deals with him to get him to pray at the end of the lessons. But then he finally prayed and he received his answer! Gosh. It´s so crazy simple I love it. His baptism was super lindo (beautiful)! Marcel, this viejito (old man) that has been a member for almost a year now, gave a talk. He´s a hoot. He literally is like Mr. Bean, talks like Mr. Bean, is goofy like Mr. Bean, Chilean Señor Porotoes. Anyway I don´t think he really understood how to give a talk but he got up and just talked about what his baptism meant to him. He told us that he´d been having a hard week and that the people outside of the church are bad and mean to him but that his Padre Celestial gives him the strength everyday to continue on. He talked about the strength--FUERZA--that he has in his life with so much animo and so much sincerity that it moved me to tears. You know, I think I´m a little jealous, for lack of a better, more righteous word haha, of all the people that join the church when they´re older. Because whenever I listen to people talk about their baptism, it´s like the moment that changed their life. It´s the moment when they´re life went from good to amazing. They talk about how they still have the same problems and worries but they have this fuerza from the gospel that fills them with hope and happiness. They can see this grand difference in their life and they hold this memory and their baptism and really the gospel of Jesus Christo so close and dear to their heart. It motivates them in everything they do. I was born into the church, baptized at 8, so I don´t really have that. I was thinking about that a lot, but I realized that for me, it´s my mission more than my baptism that´s really  my conversion point. My mission is a lot longer than a baptism (talk about pruney)but really it´s changing me. I can relate with the fuerza that Marcel was talking about because I feel it everyday serving the Lord. I love it and I hold the gospel even more dear to my heart, right now than ever before! I love this gospel and I love seeing people really change and become new creatures in Christ. Gosh. Good stuff. 

Well that´s about it for this week but I love you all so much!!! Say your prayers and read your scriptures :)
 

Con todo el amor en mi corazón,

Hna. Evans



Baptism of Ignacio.  My Argentine Companion is on the far left.

 Ignacio (left), me, and Rodrigo, his friend in the church who baptized him!

Hermana Ulloque, (former comp.) We were the ones who taught Ignacio
and invited him to be baptized!

Happy missionaries!!!

The Capilla (Chapel)

This is the stand that we got to do this week!

Happily Ever After

September 1, 2014

Hola familia!

First I have to say Happy Anniversary to the most beautiful couple in the world! Would you believe that I actually did remember on the day?? Anyway I love you guys so much! And I can´t tell you how much of a blessing it is to have parents that have been married for as long as you guys have... (cough cough... 31 years...). You guys should give some lessons to the population of Chile... ¨Oh we´re not married but we´ve been living together for 30 years.¨  'Oh that´s interesting and why haven´t you guys gotten married after all this time?¨  ¨Well really we just don´t like the idea of commitment¨  ¨And do you guys have kids together?¨ ¨Yes we have 5¨  "And would you like to live forever with your family?¨ Oh yes, we would like that more than anything.¨  ...............  I just have to shake my head. But thank you for being married and happy! Here´s to an eternity more for us!!

Speaking of marriage, I have news for you guys! This week I was proposed to. It was really romantic actually. This old man stops us in the street and he starts talking to us. At first I wasn´t really listening because I was distracted by the beautiful yellow kernels that used to be his teeth. Anyway he said he was a member of the church, which I didn´t really believe but then he was asking us for a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants. Then he starts asking us where we´re from and all that. Then he starts telling us about his Patriarchal blessing and that it says that one day he will meet a girl more beautiful than the sun and they will be married. And then he looked me right in the eye and asked me to marry him. I felt like I was in a Disney movie. We´d only met a few minutes before and he was already planning the wedding. So I said yes! We will be married next week and live happily ever after! Haha jk..... I told him no, but he was very accommodating and told me that he´d even come to the United States. And even after I said no, he still gave me this old, stretched out hair tie he had around his waist. He put it right on my wrist. My comp was just bursting out laughing!

Anyway this week we had cambios and I was called to be a trainer! I can´t say that I was completely surprised when I got the phone call because a week ago when we were in Viña I was talking to the Mission President in the office while we were waiting for papers and he was like, 'so are you ready to train? He didn´t say anything after that though but I felt like it was probably coming. But my compañera is great! I´m still trying to figure her out though haha, she´s interesting. And has very strong opinions. But I think once she adjusts to the mission she´ll get used to everything and simmer down a little.

So my dream ever since I´ve been in the field is to have a Chilean compañera so I can really understand and learn all the sayings they have here and I can work on and perfect my Chilean accent. And guess where my compañera is from???????? CHILE! But then she moved to Argentina when she was like 3 years old. So much for working on my Chilean accent. By the end of our time together I might need more a(sh)uda (aka ayuda aka help) not talking like an Argentine.. haha. Also like 3 of my compañeras have told me that my Spanish comes out at times like a Mexican. haha, I guess that´s what I get for growing up in California! But then I had a menos activo this week tell me that my Spanish is really good. So who knows what I really sound like....
 

Also this week, we found a few new investigadores that I´m actually really excited to see what happens. One we found contacting. We started walking down another street but then I felt like we should continue contacting the street we were just on. So we went back and like 2 houses later we found Estaban. He´s in his 20s and has like 10 piercings in his face. He´s studied a lot of religions and was just like yeah but how can I KNOW it´s true without convincing myself something is true because I want it to be true. We showed him the promise at the end of the Book of Mormon that if we read and ponder these things and pray with faith asking if they´re true, we will know the truth of all things. He was like so I just have to read and pray about this? YES! I love that about the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not complicated. God is not a God of complication, he´s a God of simplicity. We just have to ask Him and He´ll respond. I told him that I know that it sounds almost too easy, but really if we just pray with faith we can know.
 

I´m so glad that we can know for ourselves the truth. I´m so glad we don´t have to rely on the words of others, but we can have our own testimony of who God is, who Jesus Christ is, and what they want for us. The gospel is awesome! It unites people, families and allows for perfect happiness even when we are living in a world that isn´t perfect. With the gospel we really will live happily ever after!
 

I love you all and hope you all have a great week! 

Oh and Happy Labor Day!
 

Con todo el amor en mi corazón,

 Hna. Evans

Email sent to notify us that Samantha was made a Trainer:

From: 2011662@LDSChurch.org
Date: August 29, 2014, 11:49:49 AM PDT
To: claytonevans24@gmail.com
Subject: 4-Trainer


TRAINER

 
Dear Evans Family, 

I am pleased to inform you that your missionary, Sister Samantha Nicole Evans, has been assigned to serve as a Trainer in the Chile Vina del Mar Mission. One of the most trusted responsibilities in the mission is to teach and to train a new missionary. 

Sister Evans , has prepared for this responsibility through strict obedience and faithful service. She has demonstrated Her willingness to serve the Lord by the example she has set for her companions and leaders and by the progress she has made in her own personal development. 

I know that Sister Evans will magnify this assignment and will be a credit to you, to the mission, and to the Lord. 

Thank you for supporting your missionary throughout the course of her mission. I pray that the Lord may bless you and your family as this great work continues forward.

 Sincerely,

 Federico M. Kähnlein
Mission President
Chile Vina del Mar Mission