Jan 26 2015

Hey everybody this week was pretty great. My companion Elder Arce and I had some pretty cool-interesting experiences this week. While talking to a lady in the street one guy yelled Jose Smith doesnt exist, he's not in the bible! We just said hi to him as he passed by in the street but his remark caught the attention of another person that was inside the house and she came out to talk to us and said she listened to missionaries many years ago and attended church but never got baptized and she wanted us to come back to teach her again. And her neighbor his an inactive guy we had never met but we found him and started teaching all his family who are nonmembers. Because of the remark about Joseph Smith from the guy in the street we were able to find four new people to teach and one more who is inactive. They are great, very excited to learn more and return to church so let's see what happens.

Jairo and Brenda (two investigatores) attended church again for their 4th and 3rd time respectively. Brenda still has to get married to her less active boyfriend but they're both trying to get married quickly, here it's super difficult and expensive. Jairo is the 18 year old son of two recent converts who is going to church every week and meeting with the YSA in their activities. He's busy with exams in the university so we couldn't teach him much but this week we will try setting up a baptismal date. 

I'm doing great here. Hope everyone is doing well! Have a great week!!

Love you guys!!!

Elder Evans

Hey Mom! unfortunately, I have not seen any llamas :( but I have seen lots of donkeys, iguanas, and monkeys. Ah yeah 80s and 90s is about what it is here every day I think. They say that it's been flirting with 38-40 degrees Celcius lately, thats almost 100 or more. But I dont know if they're exagerrating or not. Sullana is always sunny and the 1st counselor of the bishopric here says the people here get worried when the sun is covered by clouds for more than a day or two because some think it could be the Second Coming.

Jan 19 2015

Hey everyone! It's super hot here. But I'm alright here in Buenos Aires. My companion Elder Arce and I have been sweating all day every day working hard and visiting as many people as possible. We have found a bunch of new investigators this week, 7 to be exact. And we have been talking to way more people in the street than I am used to- It's awesome. We have an investigator with a baptismal date for Feb. 28 because we need to get her and her less active husband married. She really wants to get baptized and has attended twice to church. Her husband is cool too. An inactive member but is really nice and wants to return to church as well but continues working on sundays. Anyway, I miss my old district but I am happy to be here. Elder Arce and I are working harder than ever before and dealing with all the zone business as well. I found a lot of comfort in the Book of Jacob these last few days. I've been stressed with my new responsabilities but I love Jacob 5. It talks about the vineyard and how the Lord is always working with us if we seek to do His will.

President Rowley is the only missionary with a car in theis mission so that answers the first question hah.  [Mother's note: I asked him if zone leaders get cars in Peru] And my companion Elder Arce and I are in charge of the monetary funds for the zone. We pay for the missionaries' trips to Piura when they have training meetings, or to Lima for their visas, we pay for the bins of water to distribute to the missionaries. We also have meetings with President Rowley and the stake president every month. The district leaders report to us and we report to the assistents and to President Rowley. We do the baptismal interviews for the investigatores of the district leaders. We also are in charge of training the zone once a month. Zone leaders also can take the cellphone to the lessons and in the street. The rest of the missionaries leave the phones in the room. Oh and every week we report online all the things we bought or paid for with the zone fund.

It's pretty stressful being ZL constantly receiving phone calls from the office. district leaders, the assistents, President, and also we have to correct missionaries when they decide to do stupid stuff. But im alright. My companion is great, a super hard worker and is teaching me well. 

Love you all! Have a great MLK day!!

Elder Evans

Jan 12 2015

Well, I'll start off by telling you guys I'm writing you all from Buenos Aires.

This week was my last week in Piura. I am pretty sad to have left my ward Jorge Chavez, the members are awesome and my companion Elder Mauricio is one of my best friends. And of course, my district was super. We had a great last week though. We taught this one lady Rosemary who accepted us really well and she knows a ton from the Bible so it was an awesome lesson. She said she would start to read the Book of Mormon and that she would pray about it because she has been in "looking for God" for many years. Her mother in law is a strong member who helps her out and supports her. 

We got together as a district after receiving the calls about the transfers and had a mini activity playing BANG and eating pizza. Elder Rodriguez (one of the zone leaders) and I are the only ones of the district who left. The whole district was super sad that he and I left. We made more Gushy mushy too, but my computer won't let me send the pictures. After one short transfer they sent me to Buenos Aires, estaca Sullana (about an hour north of Piura). Here it is even hottER than Piura. I had a rough week with head pains due to the heat but here it's even hotter. But I am all good. I am here with Elder Arce. We are the zone leaders in Sullana. I never thought I'd be one, I'm pretty nervous because it's a lot of responsability but Elder Arce is awesome and will teach me well. He was my zone leader when I was in San Pedro. He's from Argentina. We'll go out running a bunch here so I am pretty excited. 

Anyway, love you guys, hope you all have a great week!! 

Elder Evans

Jan 5 2015

Hey everybody! Hope you all had a happy new year!! News year here is pretty crazy. It is completely out of control and pretty awesome. My companion and I didn't want to stay the night in our room because of the party that was next door so the zone leaders let us stay with them. At midnight all silence broke. People started launching fireworks and burning giant "año viejos" (google it if you wish) in the streets and everything. Año viejos are like giant dolls of people stufed with hay (more like scarcrows but look like normal people). They burn them to burn all the bad spirits and bad things that happened to them in the year and start it fresh once again. There was so much smoke in the streets, we watched from the front door, pretty crazy stuff.

This week one day we walked out of the house where we had an appointment with some less actives and two sisters from the ward called out to us from the street saying they were then just looking for us. They said another sister and her family needs us and a blessing and they showed us where the family lived and we taught them and gave a blessing and they are doing better now. We keep teaching them because their are teenagers there who are less actives. It was a cool experience. The two sisters in the street would have passed us by if we had not exited the house at that exact moment. I'm doing great here, having a blast and working hard. The bishop wants my companion and me to teach piano lessons on saturdays to the youth and the YSA haha, so we will on saturday and see how it goes.

Love you all!! And have a great birthday Katie!!! 

Elder Evans