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