That's all, folks!

Elder Paul is home!

June 29 2015 Last email

Hey Everybody, this is my last email before coming home. This week we worked hard but it was hard because Elder Garay were constantly in other areas to buy tickets so that the missionaries could travel for their transfers and also on Friday I had my last interview with President Rowley. It was by far my favorite interview. Before the interview I was really nervous to make the transition home again and start working to save to school and all that stuff but after the interview I feel ready; well, at least less uncomfortable haha. I can barely remember what the premission was like. I'm so used to always being with someone and in shirt and tie. Anyway,

I am very content with my mission, yesterday we finally baptized Maickel, he had been waiting weeks to get baptized and we finally got to baptize him. It was great because a ton of his family came to see it. 

After church and after the baptism we went to go say bye to the families I had visited most and also some 15-20 members got together to throw me a goodbye party. It was super bittersweet to leave Sullana. I am currently in Piura visiting Hermano Victor in San Pedro with Elder Robertson who also served here and tonight we will have our last dinner with President Rowley. I'm sad to leave the mission, I'm a little nervous, but I'm ready. I'll see you all on Wednesday! 

Love,

Elder Evans 

Mother's note: I will post pics of Elder Paul's homecoming sometime on Thurs (or Wed night if I have time). 

June 22 2015--9 days left

Hey everybody I'm back! Well just in email. Hope Father's Day was great up there. No matter how it went, it was better than what they do here. Everyone was drinking and partying in the street and it was kinda a sad sight. But that day was great anyway because in the morning we went to the stake center to see the temple dedication of Trujillo Pero! It was soooo good! It was my first dedication and it was so cool.I could definitely feel the spirit there as if it was actually the temple. It was really nice because we can't go to the temple while in this mission. President Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar presided it. The night before we were also invited to attend the cultural event (in the stake center via satellite) and all the young men and women from every stake in the region did a typical dance of their region of Peru. In the broadcast we saw some of the youth from Sullana and everyone got all excited ha. 

I'm doing well, we're working super hard and we have a baptism planned for Maickel, the nephew of Rosita. He is super excited and really really wants to get baptized before I leave so he just needs his interview and he's all good.
We had our multi zone conference in Talara and I got to give my final testimony along with President and Sister Rowley and all the others going home with me. Presdient and Sister Rowley go home the day after I do. President Rasmussen is the new presidnent starting the next day. Today for Pday the missionaries, led by Elder Vasquez (who I trained in Morropon), smeared my face with a green cream and they poured flour and ECCO (ECCO is a coffee that is not actually coffee and is permitted to drink) and I walked to my room from the stake center all green as the pictures show. All the kids that saw me yelled "look! A green man!!" so I would nod and say hi or wave at them and smile. It was really funny. A great last pday here in sullana. Everyone was really sad that it was my last pday here in sullana. I was too. Anyway, got to go. Oh yeah and right before our conference in talara my camara fell and the screen broke. I can take pictures but you can't see anything. On the computer they show up fine though. 

This is my last week, I don't know if I will write next Monday because I will be in Piura saying goodbye to the San Pedro ward. So if that is the case, see you all next week!! 

Love,

Elder Evans

A green man!

June 15 2015

Hey everybody. This week was pretty great. We had two exchanges. In the first I went with Elder Walker, the companion of a district leader, from Utah, and in the second with Elder Parra, one of the assistents, also from Utah and my group in the CCM. This week we also helped Jairo, one of my converts here, send three names to the temple. We also helped Rosita send 5 names to the temple. In the mission we are trying to focus again on helping converts get started on their family history work and send names to the temple. Their goal is to go to the temple of Trujillo later to do the baptisms for those people. Next Sunday we will be going to the temple dedication of Trujillo, but we will go to the stake center instead of going to Trujillo. There will be three sessions broadcasted to each stake center and we will be attending. I'm so excited. I had the chance to go to the dedication of the Brigham City temple in the Marriot Center before the mission but I never got a hold of a white handkerchief and for that I didn't go. So now I will have the chance and not miss it this time. 
Today we are going to rent a stadium to play soccer on a full field and I will, for a little bit, run on the track around it (but it's a track of dirt) and see how fast I can run the mile. I won't have pictures to send home until later today or next week. This is my second to last Pday here in Sullana.

Love you guys, have a great week! Have a great Father's day Dad and Brother Gifford!

Elder Evans

June 8 2015

Hey everybody, hope you all had a great week. For Elder Garay it was  a pretty rough week. We don't feel bad because we worked really hard but we just didn't have success. All our appointments fell through pretty much BUT two of our investigatores (Rosita's cousins) Maickel and Danitza accepted baptismal date for the 28th of June. After being here for 5 months and some, that whole family has become great friends and they have always wanted to get baptized but they lack the lessons and it's hard to find them. They want me to be here for their baptism so they promised to receive lessons 3 times a week to finish the lessons. On Sunday Rosita also brought her mom and her less active brother Ivan to church.

Elder Garay and I set high goals for these last few weeks, we're trying to work and plan better than we have in our whole mission. I'm as sad to leave here as I am excited to be home so I'm trying to take advantage of every moment and give it my all until the end instead of coasting it out. 

Love you guys, have a great week!

Elder Evans

 

Up on a thing

He better enjoy climbing on things, because he won't be allowed to climb on things in the US.

Or play with a national flag while climbing on things

 

June 1 2015

Hey everybody again. This week we found a bunch of new investigators which was really cool.We found a family of 4 and also another investigator that is really interested. Yesterday we had stake conference and three of our investigatores and two of my three converts here went as well. It was a great conference. President Rowley was there and talked a lot about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and the stake President, President Inga encouraged everyone to work and share the gospel with everyone. The rest of the talks had to do with faith and the 'works' associated with the faith. It was great; however, they announced that Elder L. Tom Perry passed away and that was really sad news. He was a great leader,I have heard and read a lot of his talks.He'll be missed a lot. Hope everyone had a great week and that you all have another one this week. Love you guys!

Elder Evans

Elder Paul and some....characters from El Chavo de Ocho, a Latinamerican TV show that you should look up on youtube and that's all I will say about it. I have a friend who says she watched it when she was a kid. It's been around a LONG time. Jimmy says he knows of it from his time in Mexico.

Elder P titled this photo "Paraguayan breakfast." His comp is from Paraguay and I bet he was behind this. Anyway I can't quite tell what a Paraguayan brekky is, but maybe fried eggs on rice?

May 25 2015

Hey everybody. Hope you're having a great Memorial Day! This week was pretty great. Sullana really welcomed my new companion Elder Garay in a way we never expected. Sorry for telling you guys but we saw in one week, a lady going number 1 in the grass outside the stake center, who then asked us for money, a man going number 2 in the grass in our area going to a lesson, and a naked boy coming out of the bathroom telling his dad (a new convert) to help him clean himself. Who knows what awaits in the next few weeks. We have to investigatores that are progressing right now, Maickel and Teresa. They both have baptismal date but it is really hard to help Teresa to go to church. She is married and her husband is a member who got baptized almost a year ago in Chiclayo. He works every sunday so it's hard to get them to go to church. Maickel is the 15 year old nephew of Rosita who we baptized a month back and he is excited to be baptized so we are teachig him two or three times a week. We read with him 1 Nephi 1 to get him going on his reading of the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty cool lesson.

I'm doing great here, my companion and I are great friends and he sometimes teaches me portuguese and his native language of Paraguay. He speaks spanish as well. 

Yeah Paraguayans speak much differently, sometimes it's hard to understand him ha. He also speaks another native langague from Paraguay and Portuguese so sometimes he randomly speaks those languagues to throw me off and joke around in the room ha. He is super cool. He looks Northamerican because he is white and some Americans came to our chapel for a auto sufficiency devotional and one of them spoke to Elder Garay in english but I told the guy he is from paraguay and doesn't speak english ha. My mind might wander back home a lot but we are working really hard and trying to help two progressing investigatores get baptized. I just sent you the flight plan. It'll be a much better trip I think, even though it's still planned to be about 24 hours. I'll be going to LA this time! 

Today for Memorial day we went to a restaurant with about 10 or more other missionaries and I ate lasagna, a milkshake and pop. It gave me a quick preview to home. The restaurant is called Rustica.

 

Hope you guys have a great week! I'll send pictures next week. Love you guys!

Elder Evans

May 18 2015

Hey everybody! This week was full of surprises! One of our converts Jairo has had a lot of health problems and fainted two times and was pretty bad. A missionary in the zone was also really really sick and we had to go help the both of them. We've bee visiting a reference of a recent convert, and the investigator, Cesar, is listening and accepted the Restoration and belives that God needed to call a new prophet. He is really cool but he has problems going to church on sundays so we have to work hard with him. And Teresa, a convert's wife is slowly progressing but goes to a different ward instead of ours because they recently moved and didn't know they changed ward boundaries and don't really want to switch wards. We are trying to help her understand that God is ready to answer any body's prayer, not just the ones who are 'close to God'.

Today we had transfers. Surprisingly, I will be finishing the mission here in Buenos Aires! And Elder Bradford, after only two transfers here with me, left to Talara. I am now with Elder Garay, from Paraguay. He will be the missionary that 'killls' me ha. 

Have a great week! Be happy! Love you guys!

Elder Evans

 

 

May 11 2015

Hey buenas tardes everyone! Hope everyone had a great time on Mother's Day, calling home perhaps or whatever you guys did. This week was great. We are working a lot with Rosita's (the girl that we baptized about a month ago) nephew who is 15 years old. He has been going to church constantly and is eager to learn and get baptized. He accepted the invitation to be baptized on June 6th so we are really happy. They gave us references and we contacted them and set up an appointment for tuesday so things are going well. Rosita gave the closing prayer in the sacrament meeting in our ward conference yesterday so that was cool. Jairo, who got baptized almost two months ago received the aaronic priesthood to the office of a priest so we're really happy for him and his family. He's awesome.

Today we had a fun pday, we destroyed Elder Eddington and Sister Ransom with eggs, flour, and water ballons and such becuase it was their last Pday. I'll miss them but they both go to BYU so I'll see them there. 

[I asked if Mother's Day is celebrated in Peru]  Sounds like Mother's Day was great! Here they do celebrate it as well and in the church they handed out baskets with stuff like rice, sugar, noodles, and things to the mothers. But only a select few because there wasn't a whole lot. The steak sounds good too!

Hope everyone has a great week! Stay happy! Love you all!

Elder Evans

May 4 2015

Hey everybody! This week was pretty cool. One of our investigatores Teresa, whose husband is a recent convert baptized in Chiclayo, is progressing pretty well. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she also asked us how she could be baptized in the our church. It's one of those dream questions on the mission! haha. So we explained to her all of the requirements and everything and her husband is awesome too. He helps a lot in the lessons and encourages her. She didn't accept the baptismal date because she doesn't think she's quite ready but she does want to get baptized soon. We still have to teach the lessons and stuff.

The other elders in our ward had a baptism yesterday and that was great. The guy Pedro is a dad who had been receiving the missionaries for more than a year but finally he and his wife were able to get married on Saturday and he was able to get baptized. His wife was an inactive member a long time ago but they have been going to church together for almost a year and it was a super happy day for the ward because he was pretty much already a member. He will be a great leader in the church I'm sure. President and Sister Rowley attended the baptism and it was really cool.

We had exchanges with the assistants and I went to their area with Elder Mendoza and they have a reeeeallly nice room, with hot water. We had a good time and found a ton of new investigatores!

Hope everyone has a great week and that all the mothers have a happy Mother's day! On Sunday afternoon I'll be calling home for the last time! I'm super excited! 

 

Love you all, 

Elder Evans

April 27 2015

Hey everybody! This week was bad but good at the same time. my companion got super sick on Tuesday and we couldn't go on splits so we didn't get any work done but he's al good now so we're good. We found some new promising investigatores this week. One is named Juana and she is really interested in the church because she talked to missionaries a long time ago. She lives with her husband but they're not married and she knows she should get married so hopefully we can help them do that. On Sunday I got to confirm Rosita a member of the church (the investigator we baptized last week). It was the first time I got to confirm someone so it was a really cool experience. Also we are getting the ward excited to work and do their visits. On Sundays we are now going out to work with the elders quorum to visit everyone who didn't attend church and the investigatores. The relief society also goes out to visit the sisters on Sundays. We're trying to reactivate all the converts of the last 2 years and as many other less actives as possible while also inviting the investigatores to come to church.

Love you all and I hope you have a great week!! 

Elder Evans

April 21 2015

Hey everybody, this week Rosa was finally able to get baptized. She has been ready forever but we finally finished the lessons and got it done. To help you all remember, we met her through a series of events all starting with some guy in the street yelling "Joseph Smith is not in the Bible." My companion months back Elder Arce contacted a lady who had no interest, but the guy walked passed us and yelled what I wrote above. Another lady came out of the house and said she had listened to missionaries a long time ago, and then she also introduced us to her neighbor (Rosa's older sister) and found Ivan (their inactive brother) and then he introduced us to Rosa, who now just got baptized. Ivan is now also coming to church as well. It was a great day. I know it is true when Alma says that through small and simple things many great things come to pass. We are slowly, one by one, helping this family accept the gospel. Most of her family attended her baptism and really enjoyed the service.

Today was Elder Beidleman's 21st birthday and had a barbeque with some members and it was super good. In the morning we played basketball and board games and a tiny bit of football (american). Everyone had fun. 

Hope you all are having a blast and remember to always be happy. Love you guys!

Elder Evans

 

 

April 13 2015

Hey everybody, this week was pretty full of meetings in Piura and also here with stake leaders to talk about how to improve the retention and how to get less actives back to church. We didn't have nearly as much time to be in appointments but we were able to visit Rosa and her family a few times to help her continue preparing for her baptism. Her older brother Ivan is a less active returning to church and he helps her and motivates her as well. 

Today for Pday we walked to a place called Marcavelica (about 30 minutes away walking. It was really cool. Just our district went and we played a bunch of games with a volleyball and stuff. And then finished drinking cocanut milk, which is great, and then we ate at a really good chicken restaurant.

I found out at least 4 of my group will be extending. It's a hard choice because I want to be home for all those celebrations like Hayley's grad party, my birthday, Jimmy's, and the 4th, and also so I could get back running quick and working as well. But I already told President Rowley I'd stay. I was talking to one elder in my zone and told him I was extending even though I have so many reasons to go home on the normal day and  he said that the fact that I'm extending helped him a lot because he was feeling homesick and wanted to be at home but he said I helped him a lot just telling him that and he felt better because I've decided to stay the 6 more weeks and miss those occasions. 

That's crazy that Jason is already home and that Danielle and Rebekah are coming home! I still remember when I left and it doesn't feel like it was long ago at all. 

Love you guys, have a great week and always be happy.

Elder Evans 

April 6 2015

I hope everyone had a great Easter and General Conference! I loved the general conference, it seemed to go much faster and I learned way more. It was my last general conference in the mission and we were able to watch all but one session in English. And when they spoke in spanish we changed it to the spanish channel to hear his actual voice. Elder Holland gave a great talk as always that made me pay more attention than I did in my physics class. There were so many great talks but that was the one that stood out to me the most as he talked about the Atonement and how he reached down into the abyss of death and rose out of it three days later to save us from our failings and fallings. He's always ready to reach out His arms to rescue us from our falls and everything. Our two converts Jairo and Alejandro attended with us, and three or more less actives. Unfortunately none of our investigatores went.

This week my companion has been sick and it was really hard fro him to work. He is now mostly better and we  are hoping that our investigator Rosa can get baptized this sunday or the next (our bishop only can attend sundays).

Hope you guys have a great week. Have fun and be happy!

Love, Elder Evans

P.S. We had transfers today and I am staying another transfer here in Buenos Aires with Elder Bradford (oh by the way I know a few of his friends from BYU). Elder Vasquez, who I trained in Morropon is here in Sullana and also Elder Mauricio, my companion in Jorge Chavez. My two "sons" are here in Sullana now haha

March 30 2015

Paul and some past companions

Skit time!

Drinking coconut water

Paul and his "son" and "grandson"

still drinking coconut water

Well, this has been a fun week. On Monday we went to Paita and on Friday we had a multizone conference in Talara, about an hour and a half away. In the conference we learned a lot about the importance of testimonies, both of the missionaries and of the people we teach. We also learned a lot about how to help people with doubts accept a baptismal invitation. Afterward we did a skit about Ammon and King Lamoni and it was awesome. It was really funny. The other zone of Talara had a skit of Alma and Amulek. We found a few new investigatores this week and one has gone to church before, to another ward. So we'll see how she wil progress. Her husband is a member so hopefully he will help her out. This saturday we will receive transfers. Some say I will leave Sullana, some say i´ll stay. I really hope I can stay one more transfer. I love it here. 

Hope you guys have a great week!! And enjoy General Conference!

Elder Evans

March 16 and March 23

March 16

Hey everybody! Hope you're all doing awesome. I am enjoying and taking advantage of all the time I have left. I am super happy because for about 50 weeks (two weeks short of a year) I haven't had a baptism but now on Sunday we have two planned. Alejandro already passed his baptismal interview and on Wednesday Jairo will be having his. The following week Rosa is planning on getting baptized. Elder Bradford and I are working and praying incredibly hard with them and doing everything we can to help them make their goals. It's been a little hard to find new investigators this week because we're constantly visitng the investigators we now have to help them get baptized. We will try focusing more on finding new investigators this week because we need to improve on that.

Today we played volleyball in the stake center as a zone and it was pretty great. Next Monday we will be going to Paita (one of the biggest ports in Peru) to watch Meet the Mormons with President Rowley and the Paita zone, I am prettty excited for that. 

I am now almost finishing 1 Nefi and marking all the scriptures that have to do with the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Atonement and it is great. I feel like it's more eficient to read the Book of Mormon searching and marking all scriptures that have to do with a certain subject. Normally a subject you want to learn more about. You can always ask the missionaries at home to give you a paperback to do that type of study. 

Love you all, have a wonderful week, and Hayley have a great birthday! Happy 18 years. Have fun in Relief Society! 

Elder Evans

March 23

Hey everybody, hope you're all doing well. And Hayley I hope you had a great 18th birthday!

This week was pretty crazy but it all turned out well. It rained super hard this week, for the first time ever in the mission I used my raincoat. It was extremely dificult walking through the dirt roads. Our investigator Alejandro seemed to have fallen off the face of the planet for a few days and we couldn't get a hold of him but then one day he answered the phone and we set up an appointment to finish the lessons. He and Jairo got baptized on Sunday after church. It was great. A TON of the members were there to support them. We had to do the program in the Sacrament room and then go over to the baptismal room and people watched from outside the windows as well because there wasn't seats for them. Jairo's parents were so happy he had finally decided to get baptized. I baptized him and the bishop's son Brygham (named after Brigham) baptized Alejandro because they are super close friends and are in a band together. 

Today we went to Paita and saw Meet the Mormons with the missionaries there. The chapel of Puerto Paita is right on the beach. We walked a block along the coast to go to a big dock and talk and eat lunch and visit. It was a great time, many of us got sunburnt even though it was all cloudy today. Oh well. 

Hope everyone has a great week, love you all! 

Elder Evans

First time wearing his raincoat

The reason he had to wear his raincoat

baptism!

baptism!

group of zone leaders

Elder Paul and his companion, Elder B

Elder Paul and some missionaries he has known for a long time

Elder Paul says there is a cat in this picture

The prince and the pea (Elder Paul's bed for one night)

coming home from Paita

March 9 2015

Hey everybody. Hope you all had a happy Woman's Day this week. I don't know if it's the same everywhere but here it happened on Sunday if I'm not mistaken. Hope you are doing well. I had a pretty good week. We learned a lot htis week from President Rowley and the other zone leaders and sister trainers/leaders in our council. We had a great zone conference (pictures are below) and taught a lot more about some iniciatives we have started to work more with members and how we can be more involved in the ward councils. 

This week we found out that Jairo (an investigator who wants to get baptized) will be going to Paita for this week to work so he won't be getting baptized until the 21st of March but it'll be fine because that's when Alejandro will be getting baptized as well. They're 18 years old. We are super excited for them and they are doing great. They just lack a few lessons more. They're all ready and are reading the Book of Mormon. It's great to see how much Jairo has changed. Beforehand he wasn't very talkative and didn't participate much but now he loves the lessons and he participates way more and is excited for his baptism. 

Love you guys, I hope everything is going well. I have had a good p-day because we have an investigator who brought us to a gym for free because he works there and it is the nicest I've seen on the mission. I'll just say I got to run 4 miles on a treadmill. You can understand how excited I am. The administrator there is a member and told us we could go whenever we want without paying. We are very happy. 

Oh yeah, and President Rowley invited us to read the entire Book of Mormon before July 1st because that is when he goes home and the new President Rasmussen gets here. We will underline everything that has to do with faith, repentence, the Atonement, baptism, and the Holy Spirit. I started it and I realized every page so far has scriptures about at least one of those topics. 

Love you guys, have a great week!!

Elder Evans

March 2 2015

Hey everybody! Another week went by. Weird. This week was pretty great. Very eventful. One recent convert, the mom of Jairo who will be getting baptized on the 14th got super sick. Her heart swelled up and affected her brain and was suupper sick. We gave her a blessing on Tuesday night. Then President Rowley on Wednesday wanted to acompany us for the afternoon to a few appointments and we ended up going back to that family's house to see if she was better but was much worse. The husband and then President both said a prayer for the family and it was super powerful. We prayed for that family all week and visited them every night to see how they were doing and they all ended up going to church yesterday. She had gotten better and she and her husband and son Jairo went to church. We were super happy to see her better and with her family. Jairo is excited for his baptism and we are finishing the lessons.

This week will be pretty eventful as well with the mission leader council and a meeting with President Rowley and President Inga (the Sullana stake president) on Wednesday and Tuesday. Hope you all have a great week and make it the best it can be!

[Replying to some of his mother's questions] With my companion we do speak english, but in the street we speak spanish because we already call a lot of attention. Sometimes while talking in english in the room we'll accidentally say two or three sentences in spanish. It's strange doing that.

Ah yeah Dad told you about me getting robbed with my last companion. It wasn't really that bad. We couldn't tell if they had any arms or not. And that is true,  there are a lot of strange things that have happened on the mission that I'll save to tell you guys until I get home. I'm trying to get better to stay happy and calm despite the stress that comes from being the zone leader senior companion after just one transfer of learning what to do. It's not bad but sometimes it's stressful. 

Today we had a fun zone activity and everyone had fun. Elder Eddington is in my zone again. He was my zone leader in Castilla and now I'm one of his zone leaders here lol. He brought the game Bang to play as we did as a district in my last area. 

Have a great week. I pray for the family too.

Elder Bradford and Elder Evans

Love, 

Elder Evans

Feb 23 2015

Hey everybody! This week was pretty great! After working and not baptizing anyone for almost a whole year I feel like I'll see the fruits very soon. Our 21 year old investigator Jairo Fiestas is excited for his baptism on March 14th and we are gettting close to finishing the lessons with him. Yesterday one investigator, the sister of a less active that is coming back to church, attended again for the 3rd time and she told us she wants to get baptized and asked if she could get baptized next week or the week after! I don't think anyone has ASKED me if they can get baptized the next week in my whole mission. We didn't set a sepcific date for her baptism yet but we are hoping to set it up for the 21st of March. She's 17 years old and has a ton of new friends in the church. Also, another investigator, Alejandro, who is best friends with the bishop's family, asked us if he could get baptized soon. We set the baptism date for the 14th of March, for the same day as Jairo. Alejandro is 17 I think as well. He is way excited.

Alejandro and Rosa, the girl that wants to get baptized, even stayed after church yesterday for the baptism of 8 year old twins. It was a great service. We four missionaries sung a special number, we sang a primary baptism song in spanish. "Me encanta el arco iris despues de ver llover...." It's like "I love to see the rainbow after the rain..." I don't remember it in english haha. We also sang Come Thou Fount (in english). It turned out great. They loved it. 

Oh yeah and today we had transfers. Elder Arce my Argentino companion went to Talara and Elder Bradford from San Diego arrived as my companion. His birthday is July 6th, 9 days before mine and he has a year and a little more in the mission. I'm showing him what zone leaders have to do. Today I was running around the whole city of Sullana in moto taxis paying for the bus tickets of the missionaries leaving Sullana. It was a bit hectic but I'm all good. We'll see how Sullana treats two gringo missionaries hah. 

Hope you all have a great week and that al is going well. Love you guys!

Have a happy birthday Dad! Love you!

Elder Evans

Feb 16 2015

Hey everyone, I don't have a whole lot of time but I just want to let you know I am doing great. Elder Arce and I invited a 21 or so year old to be baptixed and he accepted for the 14th of march so we are super excited. The zone had interviews this week with President Rowley and as zone leaders we went on splits with the assistants so my companion and Elder Sosa could go to some lessons and Elder Parra (from the CCM, you may recognize the name) and I had to check all of the area binders of every companionship in the zone. It was only slightly boring but it was kind of cool because it was new, but I would've rather been out in the lessons haha. This week I fought through a bacterial infection or a staph infection. They're not sure which but I took antibacterial pills and put on a cream and it's pretty much all good now :) It was pretty ugly. Oh and today we had a pretty cool Pday. We had a barbeque with the elders in our district and with a member family in the Sullana Ward. It was soooooooooo good!I hope everyone is doing great. Love you all!

Feb 2 and Feb 9 2015

Feb 2

Hey everybody hope you all had a fantastic week! This week was pretty crazy. Running aroung helping missionaries in my zone move into new rooms and we had a small activity in the church on Friday night for investigators and members. We watched the Restoration movie of 1 hour and it turned out well. We also found a pretty cool family this week sitting down in the street and so we talked to them and they let us in and we taught them. They each had their seperate families and kids and such so we started by sharing with them The Family, a Proclamation to the World. They really enjoyed it. One of their husbands looks like a gringo (white ,person). Here they called white people gringos or "colorado" (they call me that all the time) and well his friends all call him colorado as well for his blue eyes and lighter skin. But he is in fact Peruvian. Also, a single mother Elena and her 8 year old daughter are very interested in the restoration and were 100% sure they'd go to church. After a lesson she told her daughter "on sunday we're going to their church" but something came up and they couldn't but we'll continue teaching them.

Today We went to an area called Marcavelica outside of Sullana about 20 minutes out in the country and played "carnavales" a tradition of throwing water balloons and using waterguns to soak friends or random people you dont know. However, we only played as missionaries in our district and some members that joined us. It was super fun. A wasp stung Elder Espinoza in the arm and me in the neck...but that's fine, we're all good. I tried sending pictures but it doesnt seem to have worked. I'll try next week...

 

Oh yeah I'm already accostumed to streets without stop signs, they don't exist here in Piura or sullana or tumbes as far as I know. In lima there were a few here and there. That's aweomse. Is it a large tourist area? 

The best lesson we taught this week was with a single mom and her 8 year old daughter because we taught about the book of mormon and she promised to read it and was really excited to go to church to investigate. She never made it but we'll keep trying to encourage  her to go this coming sunday. 

On wednesday Ill have my first zone leader traing meeting but we talk about how the mission is improving and what it needs to do to change and get better. Stuff like that. 

I took pictures and sent them to dropbox but  I cant tell if they are good or not. I couldnt see them after putting them on dropbox...

Love you, hhave a great vacation!!!

Love you guys, have a great week! Especially Mom and Dad in vacations!

Elder Evans

 

Feb 9

Hey  everybody again. Wow the time is flying faster every week. This week was pretty great. We had a council of the mission leaders (zone leaders and the sister leaders or whatever they are called in english and assistants with the president). It was great. We learnede a ton and President Rowley asks our opinions on how we can become better missionaries and how we can become a better mission as a whole. We're going to receive small cards to give to members so they can set goals in the missionary work. They wil place the starting date and the date in which they have to have completed the goal(the final date). 

Well this week we were super happy because finally one of our less active guys here named Ivan finally went to church after many years and he brought his sister Rosita who is investigating the church. Their both young adults and he felt super good after returning to the church and wants to keep coming. His sister really liked the church as well. We are working super hard but we still don't have baptisms set up. Maybe in a few weeks.

About two weeks ago you asked if I had seen a llama or an alpaca in the mission and I said no but about 20 or 30 minutes later I saw one in the plaza and this guy lets you take a picture with it for 2 soles (about 75 cents). I didnt have time to take one but the next time I see him I will. Ill for sure check the pictures on dropbox. I also sent a few pictures from our meeting we had in piura. Elder Mulford who is in the middle of the picutre is already going home in two weeks. I remember in Morropon talking with him about the year a 10 months I had left and he talked about the year and 5 months. And now he's already going home. Elder Chen is going home in April. 

Love you!

Hope everyone is doing great. Love you all!