Dec 29 2014

Hey everybody! Hope you all had a great, and cold Christmas!! As the Elder Tommy Jones said here it has also been heating up quite a bit. Today especially is ridiculous. Anyway, it was awesome to talk to the family. It was the highlight of Christmas as the year before. President Rowley invited us to visit a b as many members as possible for christmas to share a mini Christmas message and so we did that on Christmas eve, passing by all the members that we know where they live and wished them a merry Christmas if they didn't have time for us and if they did we shared a short message. The day of Christmas we gave service and cleaned the  church building and visitng a few members and at night we had a district activity and made a bunch of deserts and played a game called "Bang!" So I made gushie mushie or however it's spelled and everyone joked arund and was nervous to try it but they all loved it. We are visiting the Fossa family a lot because a few of them are less actives and a few are investigatores that want to learn more about the church. Gino, one of the sons is super cool and is in the process of returning to the church and is determined to help us teach his siblings less actives and investigatores. We are working most of all with them and the Fernandez family, a family of recent converts and an investigator mother. She goes to all the activities and feels very comfortable in the church. And we found a less active named Deddamia this week that wants to come back to the church and her less active daughter and her nonmember grandkids are coming to live with her and she says that they all hope on returning to the church together so we are pretty excited to keep helping her and her family out. The mission life is good. I love it! I can't believe that in about 6 months I'll be back.

Love you guys, and have a great New Year's!!! I think my companion and I won't sleep till 5 or 6 that morning because of our neighbors who love to play their massive speakers at full volume and drink till the night turns to day...

The funny thing is about the picture I sent with me on top of the house is that so much dirt and sand has piled up at the bases of the houses that I was actually only about 4 feet ofr so above the ground. I barely had to jump to climb on top but the picture makes it look much higher. I have the spanish completely down and now I've been working on my gringo accent. My companion says I'm one of the best spanish speaking gringos in the mission. The dialect or accent of the Piuranos is very funny to those from Lima or other parts becuase they speak as if they were singing and everyone says I do that well. It's much more fun talking like a Piurano constantly speaking higher and lower and emphasizing certain syllables.

Elder Evans

 

Making gooshy mooshy

Dec 22 2014

The time is flying by, it's crazy. I feel like I just got hwere to my new ward but Ive got almost a month. Anyway, i'm sorry i have very little time to write. This week Sister maria, an investigator who's husband and kids are members went to church on sunday for the whole time and she was super happy it looked like. We were going to invite her to be baptized on sunday after the meeting but she and her family and left the house so we will do it this week hopefully. Everything is going great. Today we went to Sechura as a district and went to the beach and explored some ruins or something that was pretty cool. I took pictures but I forgot to send them. I will next week.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas!!  Here we will visit members just for 10 to 15  minutes to give a lesson about Christ and visit as many members as possible. Then in the evening, as a district, we'll go caroling and then each companionship is in charge of making a desert to eat to finish the day. 

Love you guys!!! Merry Christmas!!!   

Elder Evans

Dec 15 2014

This week was pretty sweet. We are teaching the Fernandez family and they are the best. Three of the kids are recent converts and the dad is returning to the church and the mom Maria is an investigator. They all went to church on sunday but the parents left early because they had something to do. We taught them the restoration and about the Book of Mormon this week and it was pretty sweet. The sisters in the other ward Ramon Castilla that attend church in the same chapel had two baptisms this week and that was really cool. There we missionaries and returned missionaries of the ward sang a musical number (regocijad, Jesus nació).

On Sunday we had a spacial conference with the ward councils of the 3 stakes of Piura and the Paita stake where Elder Uceda of the first quorom of the 70 addressed us and talked about the changes we are making in the area to improve the retention of the converts. He said that in this area of 5 countries we baptize one person every 15 minutes; however, of 100 people baptized, only 17 remain active (the statistics of the area). So we have a lot work to do to improve the retention. Elder Uceda taught us a ton and once translated for President Hinkley in Ecuador. In the conference I got to see and talk to people from Morropon my first area, and San Pedro where I just was 2 weeks ago.

On Friday, we had a stake talent show and we the missionaries sang a bunch of christmas hymns and showed two videos (He is the Gift, and Because of Him) and read scriptures. I directed the choir and Elder Eddington played piano. Later we did a theater act. I was the main character. I was a hard working missionary with 23 months with a family about to be baptized for christmas and recieved my dear john letter and I turned all trunky and refused to work. My 'ex' was going to get married on christmas as well so that helped haha. Then three fairies (think of the christmas carol) in the nighttime showed me the past, present, and future. And I changed my attitude for the christmas time and finished strong and baptized the family. President Rowley was there with his wife and loved it. He told me at the end that he thought he had gotten to know me in my 17 months here but he had never met the me he saw acting in the play haha. He said it laughing. One missionary has it recorded I think so I'll try to obtain a copy.

And today we played monopoly listening to christmas music with my district (Sister Martinez from Argentina, Sister Vasquez from California, Eder Rodriguez from Lima, Elder Eddington from Utah, Elder Mauricio my companion from Lima, and me.) And then ate in KFC. It was a good pday.

Anyway, enough for this week. Love you all, and have a great week!

Dec 8 2014

Hey everybody, this week was pretty sweet. It's been hard getting used to a new area when neither you or your companion know the people or where to go but we have had a decently successful week finding members' houses, the investigtores, and the less actives and new converts that are in our ward. We are the only missionaries in the ward and we have received help from a few of the members throughout the week. We live right outside the airport so we constantly hear airplanes coming in and leaving piura. Elder Mauricio is my companion. One of my trainer's best friends, from the same ward in Lima. He has 13 months so we've been working super hard this week and are getting along great. We play soccer about 3 times a week at 6 in the morning with 6 other missionaries from the San Bernardo ward, Los Pinos, and Ignacio Merino wards. I have been learning pretty well how to play.

The ward is awesome. The high priest group leader is super funny and called us from the street one time (we were looking a little lost) and we got to know him and more than anything we are trying to gain the trust of the members. This week we have plans to teach with members to be able to extend friendships to the investigatores that haven't yet gone to tthe church. Next sunday, Elder Uceda from the quorom of the 70 (area president here) will visit the mission and the members to train us about ward councils.

Today we gave service from 8am to 1pm cleaning up streets in Piura with the Castilla stake. Today is a holiday and all the missionaries in the city of Piura helped the 3 stakes that are here in Piura with the service project. It was pretty cool.

Anywyay, love you all. Have a great week!!

Elder Evans

Dec 1 2014

Hey everyone! Happy first day of December. This week was pretty cool. We had our ward activity on saturday and all organizations of the church participated (young men and women, relief society,etc.) and they all had their own rooms in the chapel to teach the first principles of the gospel, the plan of salvation, the restoration, and the Atonement. It was pretty cool, we a had a few investigators and many less actives that went. The goal was that everyone would bring at least one friend or family member that isn't a member of the church. Our investigators attended and a few non member friends of members of the ward so it went pretty well. Also, Elder Melo had his 26th birthday this week so we celebrated that in the ward mission leader's house with a few members and the other missionaries Elder Castro and Elder Humble.

Today was transfers. This times it was way different, last night the zone leaders only said that a few people had transfers(including me) and we had to go to the transfers meeting and receive our new companions and go to our new areas. But my new companion didn't even know that he had transfers because they made this change this morning so he and I will be two new missionaries in the Jorge Chavez ward in the Castilla stake in Piura. The two elders that were there left (but I'm with one because he will teach us the area) and I will receive my new companion Elder Mauricio later today in about an hour. Remember Elder Campo??? I trained him in Los Angeles, Tumbes in May, June, and July. He will be staying with me and my companion and another missionary in my apartment for 2 days as he waits to recieve his new companion whom he will train. He is serving 2 hours away in Talara so the assistants want him to stay here with us until wednesday when re receives his new companion. I'm way excited to be reunited with him for a day or two. I'll be a grandpa in the mission finally. I'm still district leader. It'll be my 7th transfer as such. I've been reading in Jesus the Christ and in Ether (of the Book of Mormon) this week. I love those books.

Hey Mom, wow I pretty much forget that stuffing existed. This week I missed the squash buns . I was talking to Elder Humble fromUtah about them. He and his family grow squash and he loves it haha. That's cool that there were a bunch of new faces at the thanksgiving dinner. Next year Ill go for sure.

Love you guys. Have a great week!

Elder Evans

Handing out refreshments

Elder Paul and Br Victor, who cooked for him

Elder Melo's birthday

RS presidency and EQ presidency

Nov 24 2014

Hey everybody. This week was pretty sweet. This week, and last week as well, we changed the roof of two houses. The elder's quorom president needed our help taking down his roof and replacing it the week before. This week we helped an inactive member replace his roof as well as he and his wife are preparing for the summer here and bought new roof pieces that donn't absorb as much sunlight as the other metal sheets they had on the house beforehand. I got pretty sunburnt. Also, this week while tracting, or knocking on doors, looking for new investigators, we found an inactive lady who got baptized about 30 years ago. She was one of the first people baptized in the Piura area or something. She was super nice and was very happy that we had passed  by. She doesn't go to church because every sunday she goes looking for food to eat by doing small chores for her daughters or granddaughters like washing clothes or dishes or something. She is really poor but the relief society went to visit her to see if she can receive help to provide for herself (she is too old to work and her kids don't do much for her). No one accepted us that day except her but we are happy to have found her and hopefully we can help her. On sunday we went on splits, I went with the bishop, the second counselor of the bishopric, and the relief society president to visit a few families while my companion went with the ward mission leader and the other elders to the coorilation meeting. They planned the final details for our "open doors" or "meeting the mormons" activity we'll have on saturday and I and the others already mentioned visited a less active family and some familiies of investigators we have to help them feel more welcome in the church and feel comfortable. It was super cool.

On Saturday we receive the news for the transfers. Anything is possible!

In my studies I've been reading in Mormon, coming close to the end. I love the later chapters 7 and 8 when he and Moroni talk about the Book of Mormon being revealed in the latter days and how it was written to help us develope faith that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. So keep reading it! 

Have a great week! Love,

Elder Evans

Nov 17 2014

Hey everybody! Today was a good week. We set a baptismal date for the 6th of december for our investigator Angelica. We also have to talk to her son to baptize them both together. This week we went on exchanges with the zone leaders and it was awesome. They had moved to a new apartment and it is way nicer than any I've seen here. It has 3 couches!!!! And two small rooms and a kitchen and the bathroom in the back. I was astounded. I learned a lot from the exchanges. I was with Elder Arce in his area. Also, on saturday we had a conference with the whole mission and with Elder and Sister Evans. Elder Evans is from the first quorom of the seventy. He taught us a lot about how to be a Preach My Gospel missionary. He showed us a lot of misunderstandings that missionaries have about how to be an effective missionary and all. It was very eye opening hah. When we shook their hands, Sister Evans said to me "Oh I like that!!" Right after looking at my plaque ha. Elder Evans has a sister named Katherine so I told him I do too, and he said thats cool, and that his brother or somebody was a mission president in Minnesota a few 20 or so years ago. A less active family we have been teaching for months finally went to church all TOGETHER! My companion and I are way happy. But not one of our progressing investigators went this week even though they said that they would :(

Today we had a zone activity playing soccer and volleeyball and then we went to Papa Johns. The missionaries always have a 2 for 1 discount just for being a missionary, but I have no idea why. I told them I had worked in Papa Johns for almost 2 years, about 3 years ago. And they invited me to make the pizzas for my companion and two other elders. My companion Elder Melo entered with me to take pictures and so I wasn't alone. Then toward the end one worker said the boss was pleased with my work and offered me a job  :0  ...I politely declined explaining I am dedicated to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ for two years. They said I am always welcome to come in and make the pizzas I buy haha. They will make money and not have to work for it haha.

Hope you all have a great week and have fun!!

Elder Evans

 

Nov 10 2014

Hey everybody. This week the zone had interviews with President Rowley and my ward held an activity in the church on saturday. A ton of the appointments fell through and my companion had an allergic reaction this week an dgot sick so we couldn't do a whole lot this week. The activity went great though. Everyone had a blast. It was like a sports night with small games and competitions. A bunch of members came and the purpose was that they would bring non members to get to know each other and receive referencias. About 3 or 4 investigators of ours went and had a great time and met some of the members and 4 more people came and we wrote down their addresses and numbers to visit them this coming week. We didn't have as many references as we wanted, but a ton of members came and enjoyed themselves. We have another activity coming up in a few weeks that is pretty much an 'open doors' activity or however it's called in english. In spanish it's 'puertas abiertas.' Hopefully that activity turns out well. One of our investigators Alex and his less active wife attended the activity and said they wouldn't be able to attend church but they did anyway. It was the first time for me seeing them together in the church on a sunday. Alex at times goes but not his wife. It was awesome. But unfortunately they had to work after the sacrament meeting so they left early.

This week on Saturday Elder Evans from the seventy will be coming to the mission to address us so that's pretty exciting. 

Have a great week! Love ya!

Elder Evans

Nov 3 2014

Hey everybody, I hope you all had a great Halloween and that the Prior Lake Cross country team ran fast at state. Were there a lot of people out trick or treating? Because here in Piura I didn't see a single one. Here they don't celebrate halloween much at all. It falls on the same day as a day of the criolle music or however that ord is spelled. But the people barely celebrate that either. So it's pretty much a double holiday and they didn't do much for either, but I think the students celebrate it in their schools.

 Anyway, I had a good week, we taught a less active this week and we met her brother and mother and the mom had listened to the missionaries a year or so back and was going to get baptized but her husband didn't want her to. We taught them about the restoration and the mom remembers a lot and hopes to be able to start going to church again and possibly get baptized with her son. Hna. Angelica, who we started teaching 2 months ago but left to Lima for a month, went to church yesterday! We can only count the attendence if she stays the three hours and she said she had to go home after the sacrament meeting but the bishop and a bunch of members of the relief society welcomed her and they became friends...she ended up staying the three hours. Many times there are investigators that don't wish to stay the three hours or get baptized just because no one takes the time to get to know them and be their friend. I am so glad that the members this week stepped up and made her feel welcome in the church. In a stake priesthood conference yesterday evening a zone leader spoke (Elder Parra who was in the CCM with me) about just that. People, investigators and less actives, need to feel welcome. We have no idea what is going in their lives and a hug or a friendly conversation might be just what they need.

In the same conference the first counselor of the stake presidency talked about the people with testimonies and the people who are converted. Those with testimonies go to church and pay tithing and all but those who are converted are those who change their beliefs, heart, and life to accept the will of the Lord. The true converts don't get tired of doing the right, and if they do, they quickly surpass it and keep it up. It was a great talk. And on the 15th of November the whole mission will come together to listen to Elder Evans ;) he's from the 70.

 

I don't have much time to respond but this week in church the Christmas music has already started. And yesterday I got the 'dear elder' letter you sent in september. Thanks for the letter. And the package. That also arrived. I greatly enjoyed the candy corn and I shared some with my companion. It lasted a day or two I think. Thanks again!!

Have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Evans

 

 

Oct 27 2014

Hey everybody, hope you all had a great week. I had a pretty fair week. We had a zone conference on thursday and President Rowley and Elder Grow (from the 70) met together and said if the mission wants better success we have to keep talking with the families in the street, giving them proclamations for the family and start knocking on doors and having faith in Christ and that He will lead us to those who are ready. This week we knocked on doors when the appointments fell through and then visited a few of those families yesterday but they weren't home. This week we'll be placing a few baptismal dates now that two investigators returned from Lima. Angelica is now reading in 2 nephi and her son still goes to church every week. We have to help encourage her to go to church every week because she only has 1 attendance that counts toward baptism but went to church twice so far. We also went looking for a family that we had contacted in the street and they either gave us a false address or my companion and I didn't take good note of the address. BUT, the person we found in that house, that we thought belonged to the family we had contacted, ended up receiving us and said that missionaries visited her in the past and she is a friend of a returned missionary that is in my ward here in San Pedro. She is like 20 or 23 years old and lives with her family (parents and brothers) and they couldn't join us but the next time they will hopefully.Yesterday  we went on splits with the ward missionaries and the returned missionary that I mentioned and another member went with my companion to visit and teach her, We are focusing a lot on finding new investigators and are looking hard, knocking on doors, talking with people in the street, and we will be hosting some activities in the church in the coming weeks to obtain references. The members will be required to bring at least one non member friend.

Yesterday was the primary program here and it was pretty cool, the kids did great. some made me laugh pretty good. But half the ward couldn't here them because there was no microfone or electricity for some reason :P

Anyway, I hope you guys have a great Halloween, eat lots of candies but don't get cavities. 

love,

Elder Evans

someone was drying "pig meat"

Eating out with the ward mission leader (who incidentally posts pictures of Elder Evans on facebook almost every week, which I love. Not only is he the ward mission leader, but he cooks the elders one meal every day. He's a chef by trade)

Oct 20, 2014

This week went well. We have been looking for a less active member for a few weeks and on saturday we found him and were able to teach hi and his non member wife and son. He expressed desires of returning to the church. He has cousins, and his dad, that have served missions but he went inactive and wants to come back and go to the temple with his family. He and his wife work a ton so it's hard for them to go to church. This sunday they couldn't go. But they told us to visit them every saturday because that's the only day we'll find them. Also, a recent convert from the Piura Central stake moved into the ward boundaries here in San Pedro and nobody knew but some missionaries passed us the reference and we met him. He hasn't gone to the church for a month but said he will start going again. He is new to the area so we told him where the church is located and invited him to the elder's quorom activity that they'll have on thursday.

And this transfer I will be staying in San Pedro with Elder Melo. I'll be here another 6 weeks at least. I'm pretty excited and happy to be able to stay.

One youth got his mission call this week to Bolivia, La Paz. I was the only one out 15 or so people who guessed the right country haha. He is super pumped. It made me remember the day I got my mission call almost 2 years ago in Febuary. How the time flies! I love it here, although it is getting pretty hot. 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Evans

Elder Paul with a kid who just opened his mission call

Oct 13 2014

Hey everybody. I know I'm a little late, but, General conference was great. We had  to wait a week and so we watched it saturday and yesterday. On saturday I watched two sessions in english with a bunch of other americans but the rest I decided to watch in spanish because I only have one more general conference to watch in spanish. It was great. I, as Tommy, loved the talk by Elder Uchtdorf and the apostals that, instead of blaming others, asked "Lord, is it I?" When He had said that one of them would betray him. We shouldn't say "Oh good thing that so and so is listening to this talk, it's directed to him" or something like that. We should be humble and ask the lord to help us change and improve. This week we continued talking to families in the street and setting up appointments but to no avail. One of our less active members that we are teaching brought two of his from from the university with him to the conference. That was super cool. They are from Tacala and so I called for the elders from Tacala to come talk to them and get to know them. I hope Elder Parra and Elder Chavez (the elders in Tacala--Elder Parra is from my group, we arrived together) can start teaching them and that all goes well. And now we find ourselves in the last week of transfers. I think I'll stay here for one more transfer at least because I don't have much time here. I'll find out on Saturday and let you know on Monday.
So here the elections are absolutely obligatory unless you want to pay a fine. Also, here there are waaaay more political parties than in the states. In the states there are two main parties and some smaller ones too. But here they have about 5 or 6 main parties and a ton of small ones. In the states the republicans' mascot is an elephant and the domocrats' is a donkey. Here there are sombreros (hats), an A, the llave (key), and a ton more than I don't remember off the top of my head.

Love ya! And have a great birthday Matt!

Elder Evans

 

Oct 6 2014

Hey everybody, this week was alright. But I'll start by telling you stuff I forgot to say the last week. About a week and a half ago, I think it was the day Katie had Jackson, I found out the son of a less active in San Pedro loves to play instruments. He plays flute, french horn, the recorder, piano, and the organ. He took out his french horn and his other instruments and after almost 3 years I played a french horn. I could play a scale or two but I definitely lost a lot of that talent ha. Also in the same week Elder Melo colmpleted 12 months in the mission and so our ward mission leader made us a torta de tres leches. It was super good, even though in the picture it is uneven.

Anyway, this week we had a multi zone conference with the zones Algarrobos (my zone) and Capullanas. Elder Stanley is a zone leader of Capullanas so we talked a bit and caught up. He was in Tumbes with me for 2 transfers. And Elder Mena was there too (my old zone leader and current assistent). We learned a lot about following the Holy Ghost and discerning the needs of the investigators by listening to them and the spirit. It was a pretty cool conference, better than ones in the past. 

Our main investigators are still in Lima because they had to vote for their regional governor but hopefully they get back soon this week. We looked for new investigators and references this week but they all said they were busy. Not a single one let us in this week. But that's missionary work, this week we'll keep looking for them. 

I hope you all enjoyed the general conference, this week on saturday and sunday we will be able to watch it, we're a little behind haha. I'm way excited for conference; some members said it was great. Also, today Elder Stanley invited us to chilis with them for pday so after finishing my time in internet Elder Melo and I will head over there and eat well today. I'll have pictures of that for next week. We still havent seen confrerence because they had elections yesterday for regional governers and its mandatory that everyone votes. If you dont vote you have to pay a fine. And if you moved from one region to another in Peru without changing your address in your papers, you have to go back to where you lived to vote. thats why some investigators went to lima to vote. Because they never changed their information adn address. I'm excited to see conference, and here they also have someone speak spanish so I never get to hear the real voice of the people speaking. I hope they have conference in english to hear their voices, I heard last year in the stake I'm in they put it up in spanish and english in different rooms because in my stake there are some other english speakers that work here in piura or something like that. 

The transfers are in 2 weeks, I haven't gotten the package yet, and yes I think in spanish.

 

Love ya guys! Have a great week!

Elder Evans

 

 

Sept 29 2014

Hey everybody, I'm pretty tired today. Elder Melo and I have been getting up early at least 3 days a week to go run and do pullups and stuff that like that. I was happy running 4 miles in 28 minutes. Then we went to the church with the whole zone to practice the special musical number for Thursday. Afterward we played soccer for about 2 hours so I got a lot of sun but feeling good. I love geting out and exercising!!

Anyway, this week was a little rough because one investigator and her son who had baptismal dates ended up traveling to Lima for 2 weeks to vote and so we will have to push the baptismal date back. But Hermana Angelica (the mom) took the Book of Mormon with her! That surprised us, but made us super happy. Before leaving for Lima she was already in 1 Nephi 7 and she likes reading it so that will help her a ton in her trip. Hermano Alex this week went to church and has a baptismal date set for the 18th of october so that is cool too. We are working a lot with him and we're great friends with him. I think he enjoyed going to church. Also one of the members that we re-activated a few weeks ago sent 9 names to the temple to get their baptisms and other covenants done so we congratulated him for that. In all the churches, There is a tree with leefs on it with the names of people who have sent names to the temple. It only got put up recently and the ward has worked a ton; about 20 people in the ward have sent names to the temple in the last few weeks. It´s great to see them working so much in the family history work. 

Right now I'm reading in Mosiah and I love learning from King Benjamin and Abinadi, let's keep being strong and sharing our testimony even when the world won't believe it, because eventually it will have an affect in someone like it did in Alma.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Evans

Sept 22 2014

Hey everyone! Hop you all had a great week! I'm doing alright over here. This week we found a ton of new people to teach. Mainly inactives and a few investigators. It's been a good week. The neighboring ward Miguel Grau passed us a new area so the members that live in that area now belong to my ward. We received 2 investigators from that ward and the zone leaders (they were teaching them). I feel bad because now the investigators have to get used to new missionaries ( not that we're bad or anything haha). Anyway, we placed baptismal date with Joanne's sister. Joanne  got baptized right before I got here and now her 32 year old sister Angelica and her 12 year old son Dick want to get baptized. Dick goes to church every week but angelica only went once for the whole time and yesterday she showed up late and left early so hopefully she can go to church at least 2 more times before the 18th.    

Today we played vollleyball and soccer with the zone and that was fun. My team won once in volley and lost once. Then we played soccer. It was a good time. The zone algarrobos (the zone I'm in) has special musical number in the multi zone conference on the 2nd so that's cool. We're going to sing Youth in Latter Days or something like that? The Latins have to study english every day so that's why we'll sing in english. I'll help teach the song to my district in the district meeting this week. it'll be the best!!!!!

This week we had ward conference and 154 people (without the stake leaders) showed up!! The previous record in my time here was like 132 or something. 

Anyway, that's about it. I'm having a good time. So you guys should too!

Love you guys!

Elder Evans

Sept 15 2014

Hey everyone! This week went pretty slow but it was alright; we got to the apartment every night tired from a good day's work. The mission is focusing a ton in contacting every family we see in the street, but my area is so small this week we only saw 5 or 6. They said we could visit them but they were never home when we got to their houses. Other times they kept doing what they were doing without even looking up at us. But I feel good that we at least did our part and I'm sure this week or another week we'll find a family that accepts our message. This week I was pretty worried that one of our less actives named Eric wouldn't show up to church but when we arrived he was already sitting down waiting. Now he has gone to church 4 or 5 times and has started wearing church clothes. And he didn't leave early either, he stayed the whole 3 hours. He's a great guy, and he wants to go on a mission so we are talking to him a lot about the mission. And he has a friend that is interested in learning more about the church and the Book of Mormon so hopefully we can meet his friend and he can help us teach his friend.

The sister of Joanne, a recent convert with 7 weeks in the church, and her son are investigating the church and receiving the lessons. She is catholic by tradition and has some doubts but she went to the stake conference last week and her son goes to church every week so hopefully things go well!!

Anyway, that's about all I have this week, we didn't do anything special today but I bought more food than normal. Some missionaries and some members from morropon said I'm skinnier than I was then. I didn't know that was possible.

[Mother's note: I asked him if people call him any nicknames] Yes people call me gringo. Some nonmember kids that talk to us in the street found my real name in my scriptures and one of them sometimes calls me by that name. But he stopped saying it a few weeks ago. Only once a week ago he reminded me that he knows it hah. And also a lot of the missionaries in the mission and members know me for making faces. The members closest to the missionaries love it when I make the faces and move my ears without my hands stuff like that. They think its hilarious and have never seen anyone do it before.

Hope school, work, and church is all going well!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Evans

Sept 8 2014

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a good week.This week we knocked on doors and didnt find much success. A few families said that they were busy but we could come back in a few days and in the mornings. In Morropon people accepted us in their houuses almost right away but here it seems a little harder, but that's fine, we'll just work harder and keep looking for new families to teach. We'll pass by 2 of the families that we contacted in their houses because they were friendly and said if we come by another day in the morrning they would have more time, the rest didn't seem interested.

We also gave servce this week painting a house of a member family. They ended up giving us lunch too. And another day they fried some good ol guinea pig. Here it's called CUI. We had to watch the people who sell them kill them. They stretch them out and break the neck. It made me super sad to watch it but it was very tasty! We also saw how they kill turkeys and that's a liittle more gruesome so I wont share the details. I have a video of them killing the guinea pig if you want me to send it. It's just 4 seconds ;)

And big news for the transfers this weekend! I'm staying in San Pedro haha. I love it. Even though it is progressnig very slowly. It's the best, adn my new companion is Elder Melo, he is also from ecuador (like my last 3 companions) and he was in Chulucanas when I was in Morropon. We spent 2 transfers in the same district there adn now we're companions. I'm excited for this transfer but at the same time I'll miss Elder Encarnacion, he was pretty cool.

Hope everyone has a great week coming ahead.

Love ya!  

Elder Evans

eating cui