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.

 

 



So Many Ups and Downs!!!

January 26, 2015

Helllloooooooo familia!!!

 

Well this week has just been crazy but probably one of the best. I got home last night so exhausted. It started out with normal stuff. Gabriela got her second interview and passed!!! She´s the best. She even brought one of her best friends and her friend´s daughter who´s like best friends with Gabriela´s daughter to the interview. She´s already a missionary! It was awesome because it gave us a chance to teach them in the church. That got weird though because the companion of the elder who was doing the interview who was with us, just tried to take over but it still ended up being a great lesson and we´re excited to keep teaching them. 

 

We also had intercambios (exchanges) and I got to be with probably the coolest person I´ve ever met in real life. Her name is Hermana Ango and you´ll never guess where she is from. THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. I didn´t even know you could live there. I always just thought it was inhabited by turtles and blue footed boobies. But not true! There´s like a little city there and everything. She was telling me all about it and I want to go there SO BAD now! She surfs and longboards and eats coconut ice cream all day. And her job is working with sea turtles!! She literally is like this island princess. I told her that after the mission I´m coming and visiting her. AND if you don´t already think she´s the coolest person ever, she´s also the first missionary from the Galapagos Islands! She´s definitely in the top 3 of the world´s coolest people. Good thing I´ve got a pretty sturdy self esteem or I think I would probably go live under rock with the sea turtles after spending the day with her.

 

So then Sunday comes around which is the day of Gabriela´s baptism! And she hadn´t smoked all week! Actually a little more than a week. A straight miracle. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers. I know that she couldn´t have overcome this without all the heavenly help. And don´t worry she still hasn´t smoked and I don´t think she ever will again ((KNOCK ON WOOD)). So the baptism was planned for 5 o'clock on Sunday. And it´s great, it´s awesome, everything is fine. She comes to church. We announce the baptism. Everyone is super excited for her. The sun is shining. It´s just a great day. We even have lunch with menos activos that made us homemade lasagna with a white sauce for lunch. Just an all around great day for a baptism. Then right as we´re about to enjoy seconds (I think it says somewhere in the scriptures that carbs don´t count on baptism days) the phone rings. It´s Thiare, the daughter of Gabriela. She goes, 'Call my mom right now, she´s crazy!  NOOOOO! So we call her. Apparently she had just realized that the Cataldos, (the president of the branch and his family) weren´t going to be there for her baptism because they were out of town this weekend. So, Gabriela goes, 'if the Cataldos aren´t going to be there for my baptism I´m not getting baptized. Ok it´s 3 o'clock right now, 2 hours before the baptism. We couldn´t believe she was actually cancelling after EVERYTHING because the president wasn´t going to be there. We talked to her and she was just like no, he´s interviewed me so many times, he knows what I´ve gone through, I want him there for it. So we call the Cataldos to see when they´re coming home. They weren´t coming home until that night around 7 and so we´re like we´ll have it at 8. We call Gabriela and tell her. She says ok it can be at 8. Now we have to call all the members and everything. So, we call the ward mission leader and explain what´s going on. He says he can´t go at 8. AH! So he says he´ll just go over and talk to Gabriela. We´re stressing because we don't want him to freak out at her and have her get offended and then never get baptized. So we´re on pins and needles. AND all of this is happening during lunch. We felt so bad! The family who we were having lunch with... was like what the heck is going on.... So then, the ward mission leader calls us and tells us that he's with Gabriela  and she says it´s fine to do it at 5 like before. Oh my gosh. Then she wanted to talk to us and was like I didn´t realize it would be so complicated so I can do it at 5. I didn´t even bother asking her ´are you sure?´ Nope. I just said, 'great'! But then she wanted us to come over and do her hair. So we have to finish lunch quickly because the family lives at the very bottom of the hill and Gabriela lives at the top. So then we have to book it up about 17 flights of Chilean stairs (not to be confused with normal stairs, Chilean stairs are singular in their type. Every step has it´s own personality. Some are tall, some short, some wide, some very thin, but all, are very steep.) And then from there we had about 15 minutes of hills to climb to get to her house. Then she tells us that she doesn´t have a white bra! AH! So we run up the rest of the hill to our house to bring her one. When we get back, the youngest, Jordan, is refusing to go back down to the church because Johan, the oldest, who´s already down at the church, has the belt he wants to use and his sister, Thiare is just yelling at him. So then we transition from World Class Chilean hill climbers to psychologists and talk Jordan through it. Then we have a thousand people calling us and it´s 5 o 'clock. So then we tell them that we have to go down to the church (which of course is not only at the bottom of the hill, but the other side of it as well) and we´ll meet them there. So we get down. Everything was fine. The elders show up with their investigator. Gabriela shows up. We take pictures. We have the talks. Thiare spoke about baptism and how happy she was that her mom was finally getting baptized. (she´s 14. She was crying, I was crying, Hermana Hansen, my companion, was crying. It was awesome) And finally. finally. finally. finally. after EVERYTHING: Gabriela got BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh. It was just the best. I would honestly go through all that stress and up and down hills running a thousand more times if it meant another one of our Heavenly Father´s children was going to return to Him. I know that the heavens were opened and the angels were singing. I can´t even imagine what Gabriela has gone through to get where she is today. I can´t imagine the battles that she´s fought inside her mind and heart to repent, to overcome smoking, and to become the strong example that she is to her family and that she is to me. It´s such a beautiful thing. The gospel really truly does change us. The atonement does help us everyday. IT¨S REAL.  With Christ, we can truly overcome whatever addiction, whatever trial. Heavenly Father wants ALL of His children to return to Him and yesterday one more did. I love it so much. I love being a missionary. All the stress and chaos and exhaustion is MORE THAN WORTH IT. There´s truly nothing, but nothing, better.

 

Then after the baptism we found a new investigator, taught him about the restoration and he accepted the invitation to prepare for baptism the 15th of Feb! He seemed really weird and kinda creepy at first but turns out he´s actually a really great guy that just wants to become closer to God. So awesome.

 

And then to top it all off we got a surprise 'once' that night. 'Once' is the equivalent of  tea time. But ours was hot chocolate, a fried egg, and Chilean bread. And after a day like yesterday I wasn´t even bothered when I got the sugar and salt mixed up.

 

Whew! Well that was my week. Although it was amazing I really hope the only ups and downs of this next one are the hills of Chorrillos.

 

Con todo el amor en mi corazón, 

Hermana Evans

Baptism of Gabriela

Samantha and Gabriela

Hermana Hansen and Samantha with Bolillos

 

No Smoking Please!!!!!

January 19, 2015

Hola familia!

 

This week seems like a blur but at the same time it went by way too fast. I almost feel like it`s just a whole different time wave down here. 

 

So remember last week when I told you about our investigadora Gabriela. We did the whole fast with her to stop smoking and everything. Well we tried calling her on Monday to keep contact with her but it was late so she didn`t answer and then when we passed by her house on Tuesday she told us that she had smoked again the day before. It really broke my heart. It`s just because she has come SO FAR. but it's just this one cigarette every other day or every few days. I just really thought that she was going to overcome the temptations this time. She fasted and it was a hard fast so I just didn`t think that she would go back to it so soon, but her husband came home from working and he brought cigarettes into the house and that was that. I asked her why she did it and she just told me it was out of habit that she didn`t think until after she`d already taken a puff. So now the baptism is planned for this coming Sunday the 25th. We had her do her interview anyway thinking that would help her be more focused on quitting smoking. She told the elder that she`d smoked her last cigarette and he even gave her a blessing of strength so that she could do it. She left the interview with a big smile on her face and determination in her heart. She was doing so good too! And then we found out that she smoked again, (just one) on Saturday. It`s so hard because I just love Gabriela SO MUCH! She is so amazing and has all these wonderful desires and strong testimony, but she is just really trying my patience right now with this one cigarette. My companion even made her this cute scripture calendar with scriptures she has to read everyday and mark off. It`s just so frustrating sometimes! But honestly this experience with Gabriela is teaching me so much about Heavenly Father`s love for us. I understand how we can just always make the same mistakes and yet He still loves us because no matter how many times Gabriela falls I still love her and I just want to help her even more. When she talks about her family and the church I can feel the spirit and I can feel my heart being filled and stretched with the love Heavenly Father has for her. I can so clearly see her potential and that`s why it hurts so much every time she smokes, but I still believe in her. I know and understand better now that`s exactly what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel for us as we struggle through life with our weaknesses too. They know our potential and they know that we will be able to overcome them and they have a perfect love. It hurts them when we fall and fall again but they could never stop loving nor believing in us. I also have so much respect for them and their perfect patience because it`s hard to be so patient sometimes and yet they always are. Please keep Gabriela in your prayers. She needs all the prayers possible right now to be able to overcome her smoking.

 

This week we also had interviews with the Mission President in our house. We went on this crazy cleaning spree the days leading up to it. I won`t go into details on that. Lets just say there were stains that I thought would never come out that did.. yikes. But interviews with him are awesome. It`s so funny because I always get super crazy anxiety about it a few days before because  it`s President Kahnlein! He`s seriously the closest person to God I think.  I love the man to death but the thought of being alone in a room with him just scares me. I don`t even know why. I think it`s because those laser blue eyes just see straight into your soul. But like always it all went perfectly fine and he told me he`s happy with our work here. But at the same time I`m glad that it`s over with. 
 

 

This week we also had our replica which is where we orientate the other missionaries about what president and Hermana Kahnlein talked about at our consejo meeting at the beginning of the month. I was a little nervous just because usually when I have to speak in front of groups I start second guessing my Spanish and then I just complicate it, but that went super great as well. I could say everything I wanted to. It`s funny it literally just felt like teaching a missionary discussion so it was like the easiest thing ever. I`m realizing that I just psych myself out about the dumbest things and then everything goes fine so I`m working on not doing that anymore. 

 

We had a lesson with Gabriela and her kids that are already members yesterday that just broke my heart. But in a good way this time. The kids really want their mom to stop smoking. Oh that reminds me. On Saturday we totally saw a cigarette in Gabriela`s house (patience.. patience.) so my companion, Hermana Hansen snatched it and put it in her bag. We soaked it in milk and then were going to give it to her to smoke. There`s missionaries that swear by that trick because I guess it`s just the nastiest taste ever and then they never smoke again. But in the morning it just looked we literally just found it on the ground so it didn`t work. Slash we also didn`t feel good about being missionaries and being like here smoke this cigarette. But we did feel rebellious walking around with it. But yeah so we`re talking with the kids and they really want their dad to get baptized too so they can be sealed as a family. They were just telling us how cool it would be to have parents that remind you to pray and read your scriptures. Johan, the son who`s like 17, was like it would be so cool to have a dad that told you you have to read your scriptures before you can go out. He`s like if my dad told me that I think I would cry of happiness. It literally just tore my heart because I remember you guys calling me down for family home evenings or family pray and half the time I thought it was a big inconvenience. I probably did cry too, but not of happiness. And then we have these kids that just dream of it. It just broke my heart. I just don`t realize how good I've got it. I`m really hoping and praying and doing everything so that Gabriela will be baptized and that their dad will be receptive. Please keep them in your prayers!

 

Well that`s pretty much the main highlights of this week! I love you all so much! Have a great week!

 

con todo el amor en mi corazón,

Hermana Evans

View of Chorillos

View of Chorillos

Broken display stand for street contacting

Movie night



Cooking for movie night

President Kahnlein, Hermana Hansen, Hermana Evans

Hermana Hansen, Hermana Watt, Hermana Evans
All three started their missions together!

Rooster on a roof





 

 

Is This Real Life?????

January 12, 2015

 

 

HOLA FAMILIA!!!

 

I hope this email finds you all happy and sore after your snow trip :) You guys looked great out there in the snow in the pictures you sent! I can`t wait to race you down the slopes next winter!
 

This week was just a week of miracles. Literally last night my companion, Sister Hansen and I, just looked at each other in disbelief. It`s crazy how fast we can receive answers to prayers  when we go out and work.
 

It all started Wednesday at district meeting when the zone leaders told us that we were going to have the stand this week. The stand is this big, well, stand, that has a question of the soul like 'why am I here on Earth or how can I find peace and happiness? That kind of thing, that we put up in some busy place and let the people basically contact us. But it`s huge and super heavy. So we had to carry the thing ourselves 6 blocks from the church to where we would have to wait for a collectivo (it`s like a public taxi) to take us up to Chorrillos. And the thing was at that time in the day it`s so hard to actually find a collectivo and then to try to get the huge thing to fit, it`s just super inconvenient. So we`re like, great....Anyway, we lug the stand all the way to the place and I`m just praying we can find a collectivo. And seriously the second we walk up one comes. And when we walk up this guy starts talking to us who happens to be a member of the church and he`s like let me help you! and he finds a way to get the whole thing to fit in the truck for us. But as this is happening other people get in the collectivo and we`re like ah great! But one of the ladies happened to be a member in our church branch and when she saw us with all the stuff she was like oh, you guys go I'll wait. If it would have been anyone else, they would not have cared and would have took it. It was just like everyone came to our aid at once! I seriously couldn`t believe how fast it all happened. We never find a collectivo that fast. It was a miracle! 
 

Then we had this crazy lesson with our investigator Gabriela. She`s the one who`s been trying to quit smoking so she can get baptized. We had this super spiritual lesson all ready for her that we were going to do to commit her to quit smoking for good and be baptized and as we were trying to teach it, it was like everything bad was happening. We`d start sharing our testimony and the moment the spirit would get strong someone would walk it. Or her son got home and was yelling at her from the kitchen asking where everything was. Then her other little son is running in and out of the room. With every scripture and testimony SOMETHING would happen. It was like you could really see that Satan was trying so hard to keep her from feeling any sort of spiritual motivation to recommit. It was so frustrating. Literally every time we wanted to share something or would have her read a scripture it would be interrupted. I really felt like we were fighting against the adversary in that lesson. BUT despite the lack of the spirit, Gabriela wanted to change and do it for good this time. She recognizes that her children need her example and she agreed to do a fast with us on Saturday to be able to give up smoking. So HA! in the end we won.
 

This week we also received a challenge from the Zone leaders to put a baptism date with someone before Sunday so we`re like yeah game on. So it`s Saturday and we still hadn't been able to invite someone to be baptized. We had a few lessons in the afternoon but both times the spirit just wasn't right or we didn't get the chance to invite them because something would happen. We had an hour left and were like ah we need to find someone. We felt like we should just pass by this investigator that we haven`t been able to find in over 3 weeks and see if she was home. She was! We taught her Lesson 3 about the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She wasn't able to come to church yesterday but said she`d go next week! It was crazy! We were so happy to be able to invite someone to be baptized and fulfill our goal! Win-Win!! and another miracle.
 

Also for the past few weeks our ward mission leader has been out of town which as been super annoying because we feel out of touch with the ward and we had some things we really needed to talk about and it`s hard to get in touch with people here for some reason sometimes. But I had to get change, so we went into a random store so I could buy something and we ran into one of the counselors in the bishopric and we were able to talk to him about things and get everything figured out! It was so crazy because we were just trying to think about what we should do and it was like BAM! There was a guy that could help us... MIRACLE!
 

Also this week we were cleaning out our area book and found less active members and ancient investigators that we were like oh my gosh we need to find these people but their addresses weren't super clear. We found both of them just by street contacts! Seriously what are the odds of finding these people in the area book and then just happen to contact the very persons in the street the next day??? MIRACLE!!
 

Then we've been praying to find people because the finding game is a little hard in Chorrillos.  So yesterday we didn't have anything set to do so we just knocked on doors. We`d been knocking doors and walking hills for a few hours and had had no luck. Then we were knocking on this one house in the middle of no where and no one was answering so we walked back down the stairs. As we were walking away we heard the door open and as we looked back we saw it close. So we were like dang it, this is awkward now. Do we go back or just keep going and come back another day because she already saw us and yeah it was just a little awkward. But I remembered this video that Pres. Kahnlien had showed us in our meeting that week that was like everyone deserves the chance to be contacted by missionaries. So I told my companion, 'no lets just go back because everyone needs the chance.' We went and it was this little old lady. She let us in, gave us pineapple juice and was crying by the end of the opening prayer. It was one of the sweetest lessons ever! She told us that she could feel that her house just felt different with us there. That she felt a burden lifted from her soul and her heart changed. It was just like music to a missionaries ears! She`s going to be baptized, I have no doubt. She is just the greatest. And would you look at that?!  ANOTHER MIRACLE!!!
 

So we did the fast with Gabriela, which I was kind of worried about because she`s not exactly known for her willpower, but she did it! For the whole 24 hours! And then we met with her last night and oh my gosh, I wish I could just tell you the things she said. She has such an amazing testimony, you can just see that she is so converted and that now it really is her time to be baptized! I`m so grateful for her example. She`s just so sincere and just so selfless. Literally when I see her, I see the Savior. She is just amazing. She has her baptism set for this Sunday! PLEASE PLEASE pray for her that she will have the strength to not smoke again this week and ever again. I know that the adversary is going to be working so hard to stop her from doing it. She needs every prayer possible. But I believe in her. I really do. She is awesome. 
 

So then yesterday as we were walking home we were reflecting on all that we were able to accomplish this week. And we literally said: now we just need to find a family to reactivate this month. And then I looked down at the phone and saw that we had a missed call from the President of the branch. So we call him back and he says, no joke: ¨Hermanas. I have a list of 12 less active families that I want you guys to pass by for. Can you come by tomorrow and pick up the list?¨ We literally just looked at each other and were like, Is this real life??? Did that just really happen??? M-I-R-A-C-L-E with a capital M!!!!!
 

I really don`t know what we`re doing, but it must be something right. I have just felt that Heavenly Father is so truly aware of us right now and that our goals are aligned with His. Honestly, this week I feel like we did literally nothing, God has done it all. It`s just so clear to me that this is really HIS work and He truly is doing it. He just needs people that are willing to work and be His hands. To say the things that He would say and to go where He would go. That`s exactly what I strive to do every day. Obviously not all weeks are like how this week has gone. There`s a lot of times when things just don't work out. In missionary work and in life. But I do know that as we truly do strive to be obedient and we are willing to work, we are guided and the decisions we make and the things we do become a natural consequence of what God needs done. Maybe we won`t see miracles every day or week but at least we can have the assurance that our week is pleasing to God and that in His time He will do what needs to be done. 
 

I`m so grateful for the gospel and for the experiences of absolute miracles that I have had this week. There`s no explanations. God`s hand is so clear. I love to be a missionary. I love the lessons I learn, from the hard weeks and the miracle weeks. May we look for the miracles and the hand of God in this coming week. I know that we will be able to recognize miracles and we will feel God`s love for us. I love this gospel. It`s a gospel of work, but a gospel of miracles. 
 

Hoping you all have a wonderful week!
 

Con todo el amor en mi corazón,

Hermana Evans