Lights Out!!!!!

August 25, 2014


Hola familia!!!!

Ok so update of my week:

Yes there was an earthquake Saturday! It was a 7 something. The biggest I think I´ve felt in my life. Even bigger than the one on Easter a few years back. We were walking through the street when it hit. At first I felt the rumbling under my feet as I was walking and thought it was probably the bus that was passing and then it hit strong. We couldn´t even keep walking. It was crazy! The buildings were all swaying and it was kind of freaky seeing more than just the branches of the trees moving back and forth. All the street lights went out and then came back on a little later. And then there were smaller earthquakes for the rest of the day. I thought it was fun though haha. I guess I'm weird or something but I kind of enjoy the earthquakes, meaning the ones that don´t cause damage to houses and stuff. How cool would it have been if we had been in a lesson though and we were like so did you read the chapter we left you in the libro del mormon? No? BRRRRUGHHGUGHUCRRUHG (that´s clearly the sound of an earthquake) I´m pretty sure we could have committed them to baptism in that moment haha. Oh well, there´s earthquakes here like every week so maybe for the next one. What was crazy though is the earthquake cut the lights for all our our street so as we turned onto our street it was dark. and when I say dark I mean like you can´t see you´re hand in front of your face dark. Not to mention is was raining super hard.

Earthquakes, darkness, storms. I´m convinced more than ever that I´m definitely living in Book of Mormon land down here. Luckily the relief society president is our neighbor and she gave us some candles so we could do our planning and everything. It was definitely a crazy, fun adventure! 

This week we also put a fecha (time) for a baptism for next Sunday! I´ve put enough fechas to know not to get too excited about it too soon but I really feel that he´s going to be baptized!! And get this. He counts the tithing for the Catholic church. Haha he´s awesome and we have a family home evening with him tonight so that should be fun!

Also this week I learned a lot about charity, the pure love of Christ. So we were contacting one day and we contacted this one house that we´ve contacted before but the old lady had just kind of yelled at us but we were passing by and it was a new day and so we were like why not, lets see what happens this time. She told us no once again because she was super busy. So I asked if we could help her with the stuff. Now she talks with this really high crackly voice, kind of like how probably the witch in the Hansel and Gretal story talked, so it´s kind of hard to understand. All I heard was no, wash, and really heavy. So I was like no, let us help, we´re strong! She stopped, looked at us for a second, and then was like bueno, pasen. aka come in. So we walk in and we follow her into this room where this old man was laying in bed. So I just start talking with him, turns out he´s 82 and likes music by some singer named Enrique. I have no clue what we´re going to do. Then the old lady comes back in with this HUGE diaper. And the gears start turning in my head. Then she walks over the bed where the old man, her husband, is laying, and pulls back the covers. Turns out that he doesn´t have any legs, which startled me for a second just because I wasn´t expecting that. And he was wearing one of those big diapers. The light bulb clicked on. We were going to change his diaper. She wasn´t strong enough to lift him, so we helped lift him but so she could change everything. But the way in which she did it. I don´t think I´ve ever seen anyone so patient and loving. She was just so calm and was just talking to him in the sweetest way. I was just like Wow. That is love. This really is charity. True, pure charity.

Afterward we were able to share a short message about the love our Savior has for us, but really, that day she taught me more then we taught them. I hope that I can become more like that sweet, old, Catholic lady with the cackling voice. Also I learned a little more about how amazing and loving is our Heavenly Father. That sweet lady needed help. Her son who usually comes couldn´t come then. She couldn´t do anything. But our Heavenly Father knows our needs and in that moment he knew their need, so he sent his missionaries. Miracles happen.

Anyway so that was a little bit of my week, I wish that I had time to write more, but I guess that´s why there´s always next week! 

Con todo el amor en mi corazón, 

Hna. Ebans  (yep, they still call me that instead of Evans) ha ha

no lights! Thanks to the earthquake!!!!

 

Do We Know What We Have???

August 18, 2014

Hola familia!!!

 

So it was another crazy week. But you know what they say... Actually I don´t know what they say but I'm sure the Chilean's probably have some crazy modismo that applies.

Pero this week was really great and by really great I mean when we got ice cream and I couldn´t decide which flavor I wanted. (Have you ever had pineapple ice cream??? IT'S AMAZING.) The man was super nice and gave me the other one for free....

But also this week I had to say goodbye to my compañera Hna. Stewart who finished her mission. It was actually really sad because we got along really well. It was probably the hardest compañera to lose yet. I definitely miss her but the mission goes on. My new compañera is Hna. Ulloque who´s from Colombia but grew up in Venezuela. She was actually in the Venezuelan military and is kind of hard core a little. She has this foto of her in the military garb holding this huge gun! For a second I wasn´t sure what she was going to have for breakfast, corn flakes or me. But it´s all good and while she can be really direct with the investigadores (I find myself saying I know you´re a really good person and Heavenly Father loves you a lot... haha, to soften the tone. I like that she´s direct though because she says what they need to hear, but we´re working on doing it in a way a little more softer haha) we work really well together. And yes we have ALL of Limache which probably doesn´t mean anything to you since you don´t know Limache, but trust me, it´s HUGE! Lots of running involved. But it also means we´re busy and there´s always someone to visit and I love that! But it´s definitely a load.

This week we also had our zone meeting and guess what I got! Yes, that´s right, your package. Finally!! Thank you so much! And I also got a sweet card from you as well! Also I received a letter with a bunch of little notes from the youth in our stake. I guess at the youth conference this year they had a thing where they wrote the missionaries serving from our stake. Thank you so much to all the kids that wrote me! I was SO TOUCHED!! I had a few girls who were my ¨little sisters¨in the pioneer trek a few years back write me and a few of the young women in our ward. Tell them that I love them so much and their words of encouragement were just inspiring! It made me so happy to read how some of them are planning on serving a mission too when they´re older. There´s nothing better they could do!

That´s so awesome to hear about Connor too!! WOW! How amazing!! I need to write him and tell him Felicidades! From what it sounds, it wasn´t easy but that´s SO AWESOME!

That´s so weird that school is starting again there! Honestly I have no concept of time right now, it´s all just blurring together. But I´m loving my time here. I´m really making it count. Yesterday at church I was looking out at the congregation while the sacrament was being passed (I play the piano so that´s how I can see everyone) I was just hit by a thought, or a question better said. It was ¨Do we know what we have?¨ Like really? Do we really realize what we have with the gospel in our lives?? In Amos it talks about how there will be hunger on the earth, but not hunger of food but of the word of God. People really are hungry. They´re craving peace, comfort, love, security. Exactly what the gospel provides. The spirit is always just so strong during the sacrament and I was thinking about the Savior´s sacrifice for us. Really there is a plan. We´re not alone in this world that is worsening each day. We have a Savior. He´s in control. We have his authority here on the earth. There is power to be cleansed, to lift us, to comfort us, for the family to be forever. There is nothing better. It´s the most grand feast and we´re the guests of honor. I really hope we´re making the most of this banquet. Do we really know what we have? The gospel is amazing.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!!! Feast! 

Con todo el amor en mi corazòn,

Hna. Evans

 

Feliz Dia del Nino

August 11, 2014

Hola familia!!

Well it´s Monday again! I´m so glad that you guys are all well and good! I pray for you all every day! 

This week was another great one. We were able to teach a lot and we even finally met our goal of having 7 lessons with members there with us! It´s always hard getting members that are available so meeting this goal was huge! Also the people progress so much faster when they know people in the ward because then they are more willing to come to actividays and church once they feel like they have a friend there. I´m so happy to hear you´re going out with the sisters there! And that you even bought the lady a skirt to wear! I hope you know just how amazing I think you are!!!!!

So here yesterday was Dìa del Niño, which is like mothers day or fathers day but kids day. Am I a terrible person for thinking that´s the dumbest holiday EVER?? Especially when people use it as an excuse to not come to church. What´s next? Dìa del perro?? Oh man I probably shouldn´t give the Chileans any ideas.. BUT we had another milagro because we had the pareja of one of the menos activas who isn´t a member decide he wanted to come to church and so now we have the investigador bringing the menos activa to church! What is the world coming to?! Hahaha I love it.

This week was pretty much the same as them all. Thursday we had our English class that we teach and it´s super fun! We have about 4 people that come regularly but one time we had 8 there! It´s so funny because Marcel this older guy in the ward will read all the words like it´s Spanish. I actually do feel kind of bad sometimes because English really doesn´t make sense in the pronounciation. But it´s so funny because we´ll repeat for him, like no it´s like this, and he just keeps saying it the same way every time. hahaha it´s like a whole other language!

Also Friday we had our noche de hogar aka family home evening with VAS. Which stands for Viejitos Adultos Soleteros. It´s like Young Single Adult activities but for the old people and it´s so awesome! VIVA VAS! We get so off topic it´s hilarious! They just say whatever comes to mind and then we always end up talking about the government of Israel. Always. haha no matter what spiritual message we share. oh VAS.. 
 

Also I open up my inbox today and have the coolest email from the President of the CCM (MTC) in Santiago. Remember when I told you about my first street contact in Chile? Well apparently Pres. Doll ran into him at the temple the other day. He was there doing baptisms! How AMAAZINGG is that!!!???!!!?!?!?! I´m SO WAY BEYOND HAPPY to know that he really did get baptized and he´s active and going to the temple!!!!!!!!!!! The gospel is amazing! Missionary work is amazing!!! AH LOVE IT!
 

Everything is going great here! We have a lot of really good investigadores that we´re working with but I´m kinda worried what´s going to happen because on Wednesday my compañera and one of the other hermanas in the ward (we´re 2 companionships here) goes home so I think what's going to happen is that I´ll stay here with the other hermana and we´ll have ALL of Limache which is like HUGE and I don´t know if we can visit as consistently and I just don´t want to loose all the progress we´ve made with the people. But I just keep telling myself that the Lord knows what´s going on and if the people are really ready, He´ll take care of it. But yeah it´ll be interesting to see what´ll happen! I´m super sad though to say goodbye to Hna. Stewart though because she´s awesome and we get along so well! But change is good too. So I´ll let you know what ends up happening! 
 

Oh and I almost forgot! Answers to your questions
 

1. No I haven´t got the envelope yet but we have a zone meeting this week so hopefully it will be there!

2. I´m like shocked and beyond excited about Aleigh´s news! She sent me pictures and they are just going to be the cutest little family ever! Too excited for her and Hunter!

3. My Spanish is bueno haha. I don´t know if I can say I´m fluent fluent but I can communicate all my thoughts and tell stories and sometimes I say things that even surprise me that I can say in Spanish. But I´m slowly perfecting my grammar and conjugations and such. But I can understand basically everything now so that´s so nice! 

4. I´m staying warm so don´t worry about that!

5. Yes, I´d say our house has decent plumbing haha I mean the shower is warm and the toilet flushes.. haha good question

6. No we don´t have heat. We have this little heater thing that we plug into the wall but can only use it 3 hours a day so we use it right before bed and for a little in the morning during studies...

Ok well that´s it for this week! I love you all!!!
 

Con todo el amor en mi corazón,

hna., evans

Nancy, an investigator from Quillota
 

Nancy and other investigators from Quillota

Libertad and her new baby

Saying goodbye to Antonio in Quillota

pots of plants in front of a house

Mt Campana....takes 6 hours to hike to the top where you can see the andes mts in one direction
and the ocean in the other direction....

The town of Limache, Chile

City lights of Limache

Walking back from lunch we came upon a horse!

Pretty hills and mountains

Limache is beautiful

Me and Hermana Stewart

Making pan (bread) at a Relief Society activity

Our VAS group- it's like young single adult activities but with older people

Once (pronounced, own-say) It's what the Chileans have instead of dinner

Isabel and her son, Alejandro.  They are investigating the church!

 

Letter from MTC President to Samantha

Hermana Watt & Hermana Evans – Do you remember this photo?  On Wednesday I was leaving the temple and saw this guy and remembered how you invited him to come to church and he came.  Guess what?  He got baptized about two weeks ago and was at the temple to do baptisms.  The two of you started it all.  I´ve been telling other CCM missionaries about this and telling them that miracles can happen, even when your Spanish is so-so.  Thanks for being great examples.

 

Hope you´re both doing great.

 

 

…………………………………………………….

Sherman L. Doll

Presidente, Chile MTC/CCM de Chile

 

 

!!!!Hola!!!!

August 4, 2014

 

 

Hola!!!!! How´s my favorite family???? I hope all is well with you guys!

This week was great but the weather here has been super weird.

So update on one of my stories from last week----remember the lady I told you about that we found in the calle who has the terrible smoking addiction? So we passed by her house for our appointment and guess what?? She´s already a member! She got baptized like 15 years ago and hasn´t gone to church in years. That was a surprise for sure! But isn´t that so cool how God is always looking out for us. Even when we haven´t gone to church or are keeping His commandments. He is still there for us. He still wants to help. He sends answers. He really doesn´t forget about us!! like ever. The scripture in 1 nefi 20:15-16 came to my mind. If anything, I think I´m really learning just how grand and incomprehensible and amazing the love of God is. I know that´s something we´ll never be able to fully understand but man, I don´t even know what to say. It´s super hard to express in words just how amazing and all encompassing the love of God is for us. It´s just always there. Always.

Also fasting is just amazing. There is just so much power in it! So yesterday we were fasting for our investigadores that they could come to church. Especially for Pamela and Tiare because they had dates for baptism. We had been calling them and passing by their house and everything to confirm that they were going to come but we just couldn´t get in contact with them. And unfortunately they didn´t come. And I know it might sound dramatic but it´s honestly like heartbreaking when people don´t come to church. Because you just love them so much and just want them to progress! And then they don´t follow through and it´s just like ahhh man. But we did have another investigadora come which was awesome! She´s just so sincere and really has a desire to learn about Jesus! It´s so beautiful when people have that genuine desire.

But the coolest thing that happened is when we got to the church our mission leader comes over and was like I want to introduce you to an investigador and I thought he was talking about Matilde and was kind of confused because I already know her, but then he introduced us to this man who we´d never met and just came on his own!! No invite, no nada! Who does that??? Can everyone be like him???? I sat with him in sacrament meeting and at the end I turned to him and asked, so what made you want to come to the church this morning? Because to be honest I was kind of confused. And get this, he says Jesus brought me here today. And I was just like yeah he did. Anyway we have a cita with him this coming week and we ended up running into him on the street later in the evening and he was like is it ok if I invite one of my friends for the cita?? He´s already sharing the gospel and he´s not even a member! Man. Is that cool or what??

To be honest sometimes I just don´t get it. It´s funny because we work so hard to get investigadores to come to church. We fast that they come. And in spite of all we do, most don´t follow through. Agency has it´s ups and downs I guess haha. But even when the people don´t follow through, the Lord always does. He always finds some way to answer our fast. It´s so clear that this is His work and He is preparing the people. 

Funny story real fast... So we´re walking down the calle and this random asks us where we´re from so we start talking to him. We explain we´re missionaries and all that and he was like asking us about it so we start explaining the church, ask him if he´s heard of the libro de Mormon and all that good stuff. And he´s like woah that´s so cool, like it makes sense that there´d be the libro of mormon because God wouldn´t just send prophets to one side of the the earth. And we´re just like right?? Like he got it. And so he was like ok yeah I´m going to come to church, we took his address and it was like the most perfect contact in the history of missionary contacts. And guess what? He came to church. In fact he got up and even bore his testimony.... Because he´s already a member! And is waiting for his own mission call. hahaha those Chileans, I´ll tell you. But yeah it was pretty funny! 

Anyway I guess that´s it for this week! But I love you all so much! I hope everything is so good! Enjoy the beach, eat your veggies and maybe even give the missionaries in the ward a reference! They´ll love you forever!!

Con todo el amor en mi corazón,

Hna. Evans

Who Needs Cookies????

July 28, 2014

Hola familia!!

 

So this week was super amazing! I´ll get to why in a second but to answer your questions; I love my new area! I guess it´s like a poor area but not really. It´s weird. We´ll enter houses that from the outside look super run down, the wooden fence out front is all rotted, it´s like all dirt, and you walk in and it´s not well lit and the furniture has seen better days and all that but then they have like flat screen tv's and tablets and smart phones. Really I think it´s more an issue of laziness than poverty.
 

The food is still good, mountains of mashed potatoes and pasta every day. But I really do miss eating healthy. Oh well, mashed potatoes isn´t even something I can complain about so it´s all good.
 

I really like our house too. We live by ourselves in this like condo that´s two stories and we have an actual kitchen and a washer! So we get to do our own laundry which is actually really nice.
 

I´m not playing the piano right now but maybe in the future!

Ok, so why this week was so amazing! My companion goes home in 3 weeks now so we put a goal to have 3 bautismos together before she leaves. This is a high goal because one of the requirements for bautismo is that they assist at the church for at least 3 times. Also we opened this area so we both came in blind, having to find all of the old investigadores and new ones too. Last Sunday all the people that told us they would come to church didn´t come which means we have to sì o sì have people come to church the next 3 weeks. So this past week we invited everyone we taught to be baptized and to come to church. We were actually able to put baptismal dates with 6 different people which was awesome! But it all came down to Sunday. So we fasted and did what any good sister missionaries know how to do. We baked snickerdoodle cookies and made cute invitations to church and took them to all our investigadores with dates on Saturday. One of the new ones we found, Veronica, told us that she would come, sì o sì, even if her husband didn´t want to come. Also a mom and daughter said they would come with a friend who´s a member. I love when the members help us out!!!!! So we were like ok so for sure we´ll have these 3. So we go Sunday morning to Veronica's to walk with her to church. And she´s not home. Her husband told us she went to the faria which is like the swap meet thing. WHAT?? So since it was right down the street, we went to the faria to see if we could find her. Wow I really hope that didn´t sound creepy or anything.... Anyway we didn´t find her and ended up having to go to church ourselves. So we were like ok it´s fine, we have Pamela and Tiare! that´s really good. And then come to find out one of our other investigadores came too! She didn´t even get cookies and she came! We weren´t even thinking of her because when we invited her she already told us she was busy. But she came!! Oh my gosh. We had 3 investigadores at church! It was seriously a milagro! Who needs cookies when we have the Lord?? Also yesterday we didn´t have any fixed lessons so we were just contacting and passing by people hoping they would let us in but of course either no one was home or they were super ocupado. So it was like almost 8pm and we´re like ok we need to have a lesson so we just stopped and said a little prayer that we would find someone that we could teach and share the gospel. Then as we kept walking we felt like we should stop and contact this one house. She was a hard catholic and wanted nothing to do with us. So we were like ok and kept walking. Then this lady came walking down the sidewalk and so we stopped and contacted her. Turns out she has a smoking addiction and has been wanting to stop for years but never as been able to. But she really wants to quit because she knows the smoking is separating her from God. It´s was awesome! Not that she has this addiction but that we could share about the word of wisdom and how Christ not only died for our sins but for our struggles and addictions and every bad thing we deal with in life. That because Christ overcame death we can overcome the things in life that hold us down. She was super moved and told us that she was with a friend and ended up walking with the friend all the way down to the corner for no reason and so now had to walk back and now she understood why she had to walk back so she could meet us... And we were like that´s so crazy because we just said a prayer and then went and stopped at this house and if we hadn´t stopped at the house we´d probably have missed her. It was like one of those things where you´re like woah, there REALLY is someone listening on the other side of our prayers. I swear Heavenly Father was probably looking down on us chuckling. From all the amazing experiences I´ve had from prayer on my mission, one thing I've come to believe is that one of the things He must enjoy most about being God is answering our prayers in the most natural but unexpected, yet perfect ways. It´s so amazing how in control of everything He is. Ah man I love it!! So we have another lesson with her this week so we´ll see what happens.

I realized that today is my 6 month mark! Can you guys believe that?? I seriously feel like I´ve been gone for like 3 weeks maybe? My first thought when I realized this was wow I haven´t worn flip flops/sandals in 6 months. I didn´t think that was possible for me, but I guess really all things are possible with the Lord haha. And then I thought that means I have to do everything I´ve done only 2 more times and then I´m done. That just about made me cry so I´m never going to think that again. I love being a missionary so much!!! I love everything about it! I love bearing my testimony of Christ to random people on the street. I love sharing scriptures with people and listening to people pray asking if the Book of Mormon is true. I love waking up everyday with so much energy to go work. I love collapsing every night after my prayer with not one ounce of energy left in my body.  I´m SO HAPPY:. ALL. THE. TIME. It actually weirds me out how happy I am. But whatever, I´m a missionary. Thank you for all your prayers and support. I couldn´t do this and experience all this without you guys and I just want you to know how absolutely grateful I am for everything!!!! There´s no words to express my gratitude. But I just love you guys so much with every ounce of my heart. Just thank you. Thank you.
 

I hope you guys have an awesome week and surf a lot! 

con todo el amor y gratitud en mi corazón, 

Hna. Evans

Hola Limache!!!!

July 21, 2014

Hola familia!!!

Wow so this week has been kind of crazy but super great!!!! So we had cambios on Wednesday and I was pretty sure I was going to stay one more cambio but I ended up getting changed! I was super sad because we have some awesome investigadores and I was super excited to see them continue to progress but I guess that´s how the mission goes. I know they´re going to get baptized though because after our last lesson with them the spirit was just too strong for them to not know that this church is true. It was also super sad saying good bye to Antonio and Libertad and Hna. Maria. I love that family so much!! I went over so I could meet their new baby who is the cutest, smallest little bean I´ve ever seen. I swear the hardest rule to follow as a missionary is the no holding babies one. But it was also a really awesome experience saying good bye to Antonio because he got really emotional which made me get emotional. It was just one of those moments when all I could think is this is why I´m on a mission. Seeing the changes in him and in this family over the past months has been amazing! They are so awesome and I know they will continue strong in the gospel always.

This gospel is SO awesome!! I just wish everyone could understand that and experience all it´s blessings! I honestly feel so blessed to have it . Heavenly Father´s plan for us is so perfect and when we understand it and accept it, it brings us so much happiness! No matter what other thing is happening in our life, no matter what trials or problems or annoyances, the peace and stability and happiness of the gospel is always there.
 

But yeah, also it was super sad saying goodbye to my compañera because we were like best friends. But the good thing is that she lives in Provo and goes to BYU so I will get to see her again and there´s more adventures to come.
 

So I´m in Limache, which is this awesome quaint town. It´s super calm and in the country which is so beautiful. Everything here is pretty green, it almost reminds me of Germany a little. But I like it here and my new compañera, Hna. Stewart, is like the coolest person ever. She´s from Salt Lake, 23 years old and a nurse. Also she´s gone to a bunch of different countries doing humanitarian work and stuff. We get along super great and are super excited about the work here. At first it was hard because we´re opening this area. Which means we were both new here so we had no clue where anything was, who were the investigadores, nothing. But now we´ve kind of figured things out and are finding new people and everything is going great! Also our new house has a mirror in the bathroom!!!! I forgot those things existed! It´s awesome!
 

Our ward here is pretty good and the members though not mucho are strong and excited about missionary work. It´s interesting in the chapel, they don´t have any pews, it´s just rows and rows of chairs. And the ward has the most awesome thing ever, it´s called VAS (Viegito adultos solteros) It´s like YSA (young Single Adult activities) but for old people. They meet and have Family Home Evening every friday. 
 

We also teach English classes here which is super fun. I get a kick out of hearing them try to pronounce some of the words, but we help each other, me with their English and them with my Spanish and we´re all better for it.
  

Anyway I´m out of time so I´ll write more next week! I hope you all have an awesome week!!!!!
 

con todo el amor en mi corazon, 

hna evans
 

P.S. I´m with dad on the beehive idea. Bees are bees, they sting. You´re crazy, or maybe just part Amish or something.. haha sincerley, your daughter that´s allegic to bee stings.