Viva La Vina!

March 12, 2014

From: Secretario Misión Chile Viña del Mar <secretariomv@outlook.com>
Date: March 12, 2014, 7:34:37 AM PDT
To: "claytonevans24@gmail.com" <claytonevans24@gmail.com>
Subject: Sister Evans

Dear Evans Family,

Your daughter arrived safely and is now with us in the mission field, we are grateful to have her here.

Here is a picture of her.

Elder Miles y Elder Truman
Secretarios Ejecutivos
Misión Chile Viña del Mar
4 Norte 1112 | 68315332

March 17, 2014

Hola mi bonita familia!!!

Ok first off I`m sorry I didn´t have a chance to write last week! Pday is Tuesday at the CCM but we left for Viña on Tuesday so we couldn`t write and then Pday here is Monday, hence por què I am writing you ahora. So expect my emails on Mondays now!!

Ok so first my last week at the CCM was fantastic! I was so sad having to say goodbye to all my amazing maestros and district!! My district was seriously my best friends and after spending like everyday all day with each other for 6 weeks we got really close. Luckily most of us will be at BYU afterward so we`ve already planned our reunion. 

BUT THE BEST NEWS IN THE WORLD: So Fernando, the guy we contacted who then came to church with the Hermanas?? So we saw him again on our last saturday there about to have a lesson with the Hermanas and we talked with him for a little while. He`s doing great. Then we ran into the Hermanas the next day after our evening devotional and guess what?! HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED!!! How cool is that?? Our first contact! Obviously we had nothing to do with the decision, that`s all the Lord and the Hermanas, but still, our first contact!! We were super excited! I don`t know how many people can say they contacted a person who got baptized before they even left the MTC. Super cool.

Answer time: I ended up buying a new camera at the mall, so I have one and I`ve been taking pictures! It`s shock proof and water proof so hopefully it`ll withstand. I`ll be sure to send them to you. Also that sucks you can`t whiten the acrylic on my tooth because my teeth are whiter than the color. But just barely, honestly I`m probably being dramatic because I always want everything to be perfect. I`ll just figure something out when I`m back.

So I made it to Viña!!! And it`s everything I ever imagined. When we first arrived we went to the clock like you saw in the picture they sent you. Then they gave us all Book of Mormons and an address for the mission home and were like ok, so you guys need to find your way, hand out the Book of Mormon and get a reference before you arrive. So we were like alright let`s go! It really wasn`t as bad as it sounds. The people here are so nice and willing to help and Hma. Watt and I were able to get 4 references on our way!

Our mission president is awesome!! I love him and his wife! Sad story time: We`re not allowed to drink coke. I may have let out an audible `what!`at orientation (hashtag oops)... Because I may or may not have drank it on our pdays at the CCM and it`s totally the same as mexican coke.. AKA the best thing in the world. It`s ok I´m over it now.

The area I`m serving in right now is called Quiotta. I think that`s how you spell it at least. But it`s not by the ocean. I know my heart may have cried a little, but I`m over it now too. My compañera is Hma. Huaman and is from Peru. She`s 24 and speaks hardly any english so I`m forced to speak the español 24/7 which is good because I know I`ll learn faster but can be really frustrating at times because my vocabulary is still limited. I can barely understand anything anyone says though. Also it is with a very heavy heart that I must report that Chile has been infected with a terrible mumbling epidemic. Everyone has it. I think they think the cure is to talk as fast as they can, so everyone speaks WAY WAY WAY fast. And that is not even an exaggeration. But it doesn`t help. In fact it makes it much worse. Hma. Huaman tells me that she even has a hard time understanding them and she`s a Latiña! I don`t know if that`s suppose to make me feel better or worse.. It`s like I`m talking on a cell phone that keeps cutting out every few seconds. I can get words here and there but not enough to piece much together of what is going on. So when it`s my turn to speak in lessons, I just bare my testimony because honestly I really don`t know what more I can do. 

We had intercambios (aka splits) on friday so I went to another area called San Pedro. We were suppose to teach the first lesson to this family but when we got there they were having lots of family problems because the mom has had to go back to work so she has a lot more responisbilities and the kids don`t like it because now they have to help out around the house more and she`s never home so they all were in a huge fight. Something like that.. Like I said I can`t understand much.. So when my compañera who also didn`t speak english looked at me I just testified. It was really cool because afterward the mom looked at me and was like `Wow. For someone who can`t understand, you sure can speak well.` That made me feel really good because I know I don`t speak well but it meant that she could feel the spirit through my broken words so once again I am EXTREMELY grateful for the language of the spirit. 

The area here is pretty poor. It`s wierd, we go into some houses and they don`t even have floors, its just like concrete and gravel and the walls are just wooden boards and then we go into a house on the next street over and it`s like a normal house on the inside. I don`t really get it, but it`s really humbling to see and it`s cool to see how the gospel applies to everyones life.

Church on sunday was great. Once again I didn`t understand much but eveyone is so kind and patient! The ward is really small. I counted about 50 people in sacrament. Also they don`t have a pianist so guess who`s the wards new sacrament pianist?? Yup, I am! 

We walk a lot which I enjoy and eat chicken and rice everyday which I also LOVE! Everyone is so kind and generous!

I love my scriptures so much! They`re AMAZING!!! Like seriously, have these things been here my whole life??? I wish I would have realized how wonderful they are before! 

I love you all so much! I hope everything is sunny and wonderful in California! It`s starting to get kind of chilly here at night so winter is coming soon. You are all in my prayers and I love hearing from you every week! Just know I`m doing well, healthy, and happily struggling to speak and understand spanish. I take a lot of comfort in the scripture that says I the Lord and bound when you do what I say. So I`m doing all I can do so He will do all He can do, which is anything so I think I`m in good hands.

Sending you all a warm Chilean ambrazo!

Con todo el amor en mi corazon,

Hermana Evans :)

 

 

 

Me and Hermana Watt before transfer in Vina

Vina Del Mar Mission Home

View of Vina