Feb 24 2014

This week was crazy! On tuesday morning we gave service in which we helped build a house, but we`re still not done yet. It is pretty fun.The house is just made with bamboo like wood and clay of some sort. My companion has all the fotos but I cant find my flashdrive so hopefully when I find it I can pass the fotos and send them. Then I led the district meeting without a plan but they all said it was great still haha. Then later I left with the other district leaders from Tumbes and Zarumilla for Piura, a whole 5 hour bus ride, for our training meeting. We arrived at Piura at night and slepped in the mission office, and then had the meeting in the morning until 3pm. Then leftt for Tumbes. Then one missionary in Zarumilla (right on the border with Ecuador, had an appendicitis so he and one of the zone leaders went to piura and the other zone leader stayed with Elder Villena and me. We had a blast and got a lot of work down.

We met a family of inactives last saturday. A memeber of the stake high counsil invtied us to visit them with him. They are wonderful. They stopped going to  church when they moved to Puyango but we visited them on a saturday and the next day the dad and 3 of his kids went to churc hthe next day. One of his daughters is 9 years old and hasn't been baptized yet, but now she reeeeeeally wants to get baptized. The man's wife goes to a diffferent church but is a member of our church. We have our goal that all 3 or  that still live in their house (many of the children have already moved out; there are 10 children in total but only 4 still live in the house) can be rescatadas, or 'rescued' and we hope that the dad can baptize his daughter in a few weeks. 

I have never been this excited on my mission yet. The family always is super excited wehen we come over. The wife never is home but the rest go to youth activities already, and they have only known us and the members for a week and 2 days. And the 9 year old girl reminds me of Annie and Mimi because she is super energitic and hugs us missionaries and all. I thought of Annie and Mimi a lot when I first met this girl. I'm sure we'll take pictures with this family soon and I'll send them so you can see.

Well I am tired from writing so much but the experience with this family makes me really glad I'm on a mission and I couldn't be in a better place for these 2 years. With my last 17 months I will work my hardest because I want to find families like this one. They are ready to come back to church and the daughter is ready to be baptised, she just needs a few more lessons and the interview.

In church we sang a lor of good songs but it's hard to think of the english names haha. One was Now let us rejoice (ya recocijemos or something like that). The roads are mostly paved but there are a lot of dirt roads as well. There are a lot of little ponds in the roads after it rains. And normalmente we dont have to walk too far. The family that I talked about in my other email lives about 7 minutes away walking. Or a litle more. 

Ha supongo que le toca a él. (Ha I guess it's matt's turn) for braces. 

I'll try sending some pictures now from the house building project

Hope everyone is having as good of a time as I am!! You all are in my prayers. Love ya!!

Elder Evans

 

Feb 17 2014

This week has gone quite well. My companion Elder Villena are already greatfriends.If you remember my pictures from the christmas program he is the missionaryin the middle of the two santa clauses, I am on the right, Elder Lux is on the left and Elder Villena is in the middle. He was in my zone a while back.

My first weekbeing lider de distrito has been pretty cool. I led the district meeting even though the zone leaders are there since theyre in my district. They said it went really well and I did things that they never thought of that they really liked. I just did the same things Elder Chen did when he was mydistrict leader. tomorrow I have my first traing meetting as district leader.We have to travl to Piura again but I heard its a blastso I m excited.

Yesterday we went to church and it was weird cause its a ward, with about 61 or 70 active members. It felt huge cause I have been in my tiny branch in morropon for 6months.

The mission leader works with usa ton. He comes out with us to go to appoiments every 2 days or so. He is way cool and always wants to work with us.  We also hae a few priests who come outwith  us and they put on a "futuro misionero" nametag. The weather is actully nicer here it seems because theres a lot more wind. But people still tell me tumbes is the hottest part. I havent seen it very hot yet. We'll see. 

[Paul then sent another email answering some questions that I had for him]

I lead the district meetings, all the companionships, including the zone leaders, report their numbers to me every sunday, and then I write the totals and report to the zone leaders (they are in my district, that's why they report to me first). I also call the missionaries in my district every night or two to see how their day went and if they need anything and to help *animate them to work. 

The ward has about 60 or 70 active members, its a huge change from Morropn. 

We sang songs about mission work because every 3rd sunday the missionaries speak on la obra misional. It wqas good but the lady who diriects the music doesnt give an intro or anything, she just starts singing and the people start on the 2nd or 3rd beat. It's really awkward for me ha. And they dont use the piano but maybe ill play a bit, we'll see. 

Valentines sounds like a ton of fun!! Oh and I also have eaten cow stomach, cow tongue, and a few other things that I don't know. Oh, and horse hooves I think too. That was interesting.

This is all for now, have a great week!!!!

Love, 

Elder Evans

 

*[mom's note: "animate!" hahahaha!  Jim says "animarle" in Espanol is like "cheer up or excite." I'm thinking Paul meant "motivate." Or possibly "fire up" or something. Anyway, we are still laughing at "animate."]

Feb 10 2014

Well this week couldn't have been a bigger surprise. I kinda new I would be leaving Morropon but that was about it. We got the callSaturday night, my district leader Elder Mamani (the goofy elder in one of my new fotos on dropbox) called us and first said (in spahnish) "Elder Evans is leaving...You will go to Los Angeles, Puyango (near Tumbes, the hottest part of the mission) and your assignment is very big, you need to read the Leadership part of the manual misional, you will be lider de distrito." I kinda freaked when he said that. I definitely don't feel ready for it but at the same time I am really excited to start fresh in a new area and be district leader. He gave me advice and I am now with my new companion Elder Villena from Ecuador. He was in my zone a while back, he has 5 months in the mission. I am super excited to serve with him because we were super good friends in the zone miraflores. I'm also with ElderPinzon, one of my zone leaders. He is super cool too and says I'll do great. He will be with Elder Villena and I until his new companion comes, the other zone leader. So yesterday for my lwast day in Morropon Elder Vasquez and I went to the branch presidents house for an hour and a lhalf or so and he was really sad I'm going. We also almost set a record in church attendance yesterday with 25. Three investigators came, so I am excited for Elder Vasquez and Elder Holmes (he is in my group and he just left from where I am now, they changed flop flopped us haha). I will miss my old district Chulupon (Chulucanas and Morropon) but I am super excited for this transfer with Elder Villena and being district leader. I have to work even harder now haha.
It was a 5 hour bus ride. I'm in the hottest part of the mission but today is super nice because there is a lot of wind and that helps keep us cool. I have less time on internet today because of the transfers so I gotta go, but I'm glad all is well and Jimmy got back just fine and well.   Oh and yeah I'll be speaking a lot of spanish when II get home because its already wekird speaking english.

Love you all, have a great week! Share the snow please! Or save some for when I get home in July. I saw the picture of Jimmy laying down in the snow haha. I'm in the hottest part of the mission in the hottest time of the year! 

Elder Evans

Yes, he is near the ocean.

Feb 3 2014

Hey everybody, this week went pretty well. We had a lot more success this week. An 8 year old girlnamed Divina, a daughter of a member, has told us she wants to get baptized and so we have a date set up for her baptism and also 3 ohers, but they still need to go to chucrch. We had a few lessons on Sunday and a member accompanied us and in one lesson he said a lot of things that should not have been said. Things that the investigators weren't ready for and that reallly worries us. One of those investigators has been reading the Book of Mormon and explained 3 nephi 11 perfectly so that really excited us. We'll visit them again this week but with a different member so hopefully the lesson will be better. It was really uncomfortable.

Today, we went to Piura as a district to eat at pizza hut and stuff and it was super fun. I am there right now because the internet is way faster. 

Not a whole lot more happened. I may have had my last district meeting in this area. We have transfers next week. I have been told though by some leaders that my district leader, who has had less time in this district than me, is almost for sure going, and that I have a 50/50 chance of leaving. It all depends on what the mission president thinks of my work in Morropon. We'll find out on Saturday! The zone leaders told me that I have risen and improved the goals and reports a lot in Morropon, so I  don't know what'll hapepen. 

Ah I miss the colddd. And no I haven't conducted a sacrament meeting but I conduct a lot of the ward activieties, I conducted the New Years party, the Noche Misional that we have every few weeks. Yesterday the Branch President was sick so I let Elder Vasquez conduct it because he wanted to. Our companionship studies are 1 hour olong. A lot of the Peruanos talk about soccer, the heat, and the possible war that might start with Chile, especially when my companion says he is from Chile. Some drunk people have gotten pretty upset when they found put he was from Chile. They were n the street and they thought we both were american. Yes I think in spanish, I think of situations in the states or byu and we talk english in these daydreams haha. And the members don't know many hymns so we play the same ones. Elder Vasquez and I are tying to help them learn noew ones. And some times I play the piano to help them learn.

[Regarding the Super Bowl] I can't believe it was a blowout, I thought it would have been closer. And yeah that is so weird to think that Jimmy will be home tomorrow, I'm coming up on 7 months right now and it feels like I still have a ton left. And yes I am getting used to the heat. Im used to wearing sunglasses or my gorro every day and sweating inside the houses, especially right now in the internet building. I know you have cooked arroz con laeche before, but have you tried it with brown sugar? This family here made some and said they put some brown sugar in a frying pan and burn it a bit (without water or anything) and then pour it in the prepared arroz con leche. It was super good. I love arroz con leche, and the kind with the burnt/cooked brown sugar is even better. 

Say hi to Jimmy for me tomorrow. That's so weird that he and Ethan will be home agian. I can't imagine being back in the states cause Im so used to bein in the desert and in a very poor country but I sometimes think of things from the states. Like today when we ate in Pizz a hut.

Hoope everything goes well with Jimmy's return!

That's all I have for now! Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Evans