End

You might think the e-mails ended kind of abruptly.  Like I said, a mission isn't going up and over a mountain, it's a takeoff.  So I tried not to focus on the fact that my full-time mission was drawing to a close.  I kept on working as if I would stay there forever.  I had to plan that way because the people we taught would be handed off to the next set of missionaries and they would need some idea of what to teach.  The fact that missionaries change shouldn't make a difference on their progression. 
The mission really has been a takeoff for the rest of my life.  It's now about 7 months since I finished my mission.  I have seen how much it has impacted my life.  I use lessons I learned as a missionary every day and I try and pass them on to others as well.  I hope anyone who reads this is able to catch some of the inspiration, revelation and optimism I gathered as a representative of Jesus Christ. 
My testimony remains as it always has, firm and unyielding.  I know the Savior lives.  I know we are children of Heavenly Father and he loves us more than we can possibly imagine.  I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's true church on the earth today!  I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I had to serve a mission. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

May 6, 2011

Hi family!  Yes, I'll try my best to go out and meet Aunt Kathy and Grandma Darlene.  I love you all!  See you very soon!

Hello everybody!  The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and it's a new week! 

I finally ate something from Mexico noteworthy.  An investigator invited us in last week and we tried "chapulines" and "gusanillos."  I think that's how you spell them anyway.  Basically toasted and salted cricket type things and mealworms.  Not too bad actually.  Wouldn't say it's my favorite but they didn't make me nauseous or anything.  They gave us a little bag to take home.  We gave it to the elders.  Thought we'd share the love.

On Saturday we had a special mission-wide conference.  It's very rare to have a conference with the entire mission.  There were 3 general authorities visiting, Elder Snow of the presidency of the 70, Bishop Burton the presiding bishop of the church and Elder L. Tom Perry.  Elder Perry's flight got in late so he didn't make the conference but it was wonderful to hear Elder Snow and Bishop Burton.  Bishop Burton said he was the last missionary to travel by boat to his mission, Australia.  27 days he said.  Along the way President McKay boarded their ship headed to New Zealand to dedicate the temple there.  President McKay invited the missionaries to attend the dedication with him.  That must have been quite and experience.  Bishop Burton also told us a little about his calling, how he helps set aside the temporal funds for building churches and temples and the like.  He said as a little piece of trivia (that "won't get you into the celestial kingdom") we will build more square footage this year than Wal-Mart.  He is a powerful speaker. He told us to listen to the spirit and pay attention especially to the things that you hear that aren't necessarily said over the pulpit.  That's an interesting thought.  I'd encourage everyone to try that sometime. Listen for the things you hear that aren't said.   He also had all the 17 missionaries that are leaving this week to stand up then he gave them specific counsel.  One thing he said that I liked is the mission is the MTC for the rest of your life.  I know that to be true.  I can't really list all the things I've learned on my mission but I know the things I have learned here have shaped me to be a better person in general for the rest of my life.  A mission is not climbing over a mountain- going up and over, ending up about the same level you started.  It's a runway to take off and keep going strong.  Another thing Bishop Burton said is that when you serve a mission you end up with a missionary spirit that never leaves you. 

We had a special stake conference the next day and Elder Snow spoke at ours.  The other authorities went to other stakes.  I was actually very impressed with the youth speaker- a young man preparing for a mission.  He was very enthusiastic and talked about how much he loved going on team-ups with the missionaries and encouraged everyone to do the same.  He talked about seminary and said that in armor of God terms "Seminary is like a dragon that you get to ride that breathes fire and eats all the bad stuff."    At one point in Elder Snow's talk he said "Let me introduce you to your greatest treasure."  Then he asked all the primary children to stand up and wave so we could see them.  Then he asked the youth to stand up too.  He said they are the future. They are our greatest treasure. He talked about the importance of family and the joy that comes from them.  One thing that stuck out to me in both Saturday and Sunday that they said is that this is an exciting time to live in and there are a lot of things that we don't really need to stress over.  We can have faith and do our best and keep moving forward.  Elder Snow and Bishop Burton were both very calm and optimistic. 

Our car battery died three times this week.  It's still sitting in front of a member's house now.  Maybe that's why we were without a car for so long.  Cars just don't like me.  Or maybe it's just pulling a temper tantrum because it doesn't want me to leave. :-)  It's ok. I like grocery shopping with bikes more anyway. 

This will be an interesting few days.  There are 9 sister missionaries going home, 2 have already departed.  There will be 3 Spanish sister missionaries left in the mission.  There are 4 Spanish sisters coming in so they're changing one of the English sisters to Spanish and she'll be training as well.  Tuesday they've got interviews, presentations and a temple session for all departing missionaries so we'll be there and Wednesday all the new missionaries come in and have a day of orientation.  Sister Harris will probably have to go to a different area to work with a sister who's companion is also leaving.  That means we couldn't plan any appointments for two whole days this week and there are a lot of people we need to see.  It's ok.  Sister Harris and her trainee will just be busy which is a really good thing. 

Sister Harris and I tried to make tortillas the other day.  We failed.

We had a really good lesson with a less-active family last night.  We talked about prayer and helped them paint a family prayer-rock.  They found a big rock, we divided it up into 6 parts and each family member painted a part of it.  The idea is they will put the rock somewhere they will either see it or trip over it on the way to bed to remember to have family prayer.  They loved it!  It seems like they want to be closer together as a family but don't really know how.  The girls asked us if we're going to do something fun the next time we come too.  I guess those kind of things are just natural to me. I have very fond memories of cooking, painting, dancing, singing, playing games and sports, praying, reading the scriptures and going to church with my family.  I really want other families to have those good memories too.  It seems like this family is on the right path.  They have really progressed.  When I first started visiting them the mom would just ignore the kids.  Last night she was helping them paint. 

 We're out of time! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

See you soon!

        Hermana Evans

April 26, 2011

Hi family.  First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!!! Instead of a card I think I'll just wrap myself up and send me to you.  How's that sound? :-)  I love you all so much!  I can't really think of anything new.  Days are just flying by.  Thanks for keeping me so updated.  I really don't want to make it a big deal around here that I'm leaving.  Mostly I just want to quietly disappear and let the work go on. 

Hi everybody!!!!!  We had another baptism, Edith, on Sunday.  It was very nice.  The Spirit was strong and she had a lot of family come.  Another one of our investigators who is scheduled to be baptized came.  He's a "churrero" which is a guy riding around on a bike selling churros.  He rode the bike to the baptism which caused a problem for a few minutes because all the kids wanted their parents to buy them churros.  Their parents were explaining to them they can't buy one because it's Sunday. 

Today we got to go to the temple.  I'll get to go again a week from today, right before transfers.  It's a beautiful day.  Blue sky, not too hot.  Everyone has blooming rosebushes.  

We street contacted a lady named Ester who turned out to be a former investigator.  She has a strong testimony that God answers prayers.  One time she lost a hat that had $400 zipped in it.  She had dropped it in a huge field where she was working.  She had no clue where it was.  She just felt that she should walk a certain distance and then something told her to look down.  She saw a tiny patch of her hat sticking out of the dirt.  She had found it.  

We are full up with appointments this week.  Before the week even started we had most of it planned out.  We've been finding a lot of new investigators even though we're not really focusing specifically on finding.  We already have more investigators than we know what to do with.  Not all of them are progressing which is good.  I'm really excited about the ones we have.  We have a family of 7 we found last week that I'm excited about.  We'll see where that goes because they had been taking the lessons for a long time.  We just barely picked them back up.  We see potential though. 

With God all things are possible.  Whenever I find myself struggling to speak Spanish, I notice it's at the times where I'm really not feeling the Spirit.  As soon as I let go of whatever negative thoughts I have, I can talk again.  As long as you're living so you have the Spirit with you, you can do anything.   

Thank you all for your love and prayers. Have a wonderful week!

              Hermana Evans

April 18, 2011

Hi family!  Thanks so much for registering me.  Did you find anything out about the foreign language housing?  I don't think I'll need a car.  I'd rather not drive in the snow.  I survived for two years without one.  I am still planning on elementary education.  I got my haircut today.  I just took a few inches off.  It was getting really long and hard to handle.   Tell Grandma Happy Birthday!!!!!!  I didn't get a chance to send her a card.  We've been really busy.

Oh, next week is the temple trip so I will be e-mailing on Tuesday. :-)  I love you all!

Hi everyone!  Wow, another crazy week.  Tuesday we dropped off Sister Alvarez.  She is now home with her family.  She e-mailed me photos of her and her family at the airport.  Today Sister Rivera left for Leemore.  Now it's just me and Sister Harris.  We will have fun.  We had a baptism on Saturday of a sister who has been investigating for two years.  She got baptized with her sister and brother in law.  This coming Friday we will have another baptism of a lady who also has had contact with the church for quite some time.  We are very excited.    What else happened this week?  We helped out at the primary Easter activity.  We played missionary tag and duck-duck goose with the kids before the egg-hunt.  That was fun. 

I hope as everyone celebrates Easter that you all remember the symbolism behind it- that through Jesus Christ we can all have life!

Sorry this is short.  We have a lot to do today! 

Onward!

       Hermana Evans

April 11, 2011

Hi family!  About summer term at BYU, I will trust you on that.  If you feel good about it, it sounds good to me.  Maybe I could take Spanish 102 while living there. Or another Spanish class. I would like to take some sort of Spanish class. That would definitely help.  I would like to take an outdoor PE class, maybe something related to wilderness survival/camping/hiking.  I would love that.  Religion classes don't hurt either. I really enjoyed my New Testament class last time. It included the first half of the New Testament- the 4 gospels. Maybe there's a class that covers the rest of the New Testament.  It would be interesting to know more about how the Great Apostasy was started.    Something I'm discovering about myself lately is I do NOT like transitions.  It will be hard regardless.  At least after the mission I have more options to relieve stress. And BYU is a pretty soft setting to crash land into reality.  I'll be fine.  I am very excited to see you all.  It would be great if we could take a trip up here as a family sometime.  I will keep writing the people that really want to stay in contact. 

I love you all!!!!!  I kind of skimmed your letter so if there's anything I missed, I'll write a letter later.

Hi everyone!  I don't have very much time so this will be just basic.  Sister Alvarez leaves in 2 days.  A few days after that Sister Rivera will be transferred to Leemore because another sister is also leaving mid-transfer and would be without a companion. So it will be me and Sister Harris.  She's very positive and hard-working. I'm excited to work with her. 

This week I taught all the Relief Society sisters how to make pizza from scratch.  A few days later a sister told me she had done it on her own and her husband had 6 slices.  Everyone really enjoyed it.  We had a few investigators there too.

We didn't have a baptism this past weekend but we have 2 investigators who will be baptized next Saturday.  They both have been taught for a very long time and FINALLY have decided to be baptized.  We are so excited!  The only sad part is Sister Alvarez will not be here for the baptisms.  We tried to get them to work before but it just worked out better next weekend.  On Sunday a few of the sisters from Atwater surprised us by coming down to say goodbye to Sister Alvarez on her last Sunday here.  It was so good to see them!  One of the sisters had quit coming to church but she said she recently started going again.  Sister Alvarez needed that surprise. She's been through a lot the past few weeks. 

Press forward with faith!  Remember Faith is the opposite of Fear!  Don't waste a minute worrying about what will come the next minute. 

   Hermana Evans

April 4, 2011

Hello family!   Thanks for all the letters and updates on your most amazing lives!  I have the most incredible family EVER!!!

My companion goes home next week.  This is our last week together then I will be in a trio with the other sisters.  I know we're not supposed to think too much about after the mission but we have an idea.  President his wife are finishing their mission in June.  Sister Alvarez really wants to come back and visit for that and see people we have visited at the same time.  I wouldn't mind visiting either especially for president's farewell. Plus we know a lot of the same people and she doesn't want to go alone.  I was thinking MAYBE she could fly to Arizona, we could all go to Disneyland, then from there we could take a bus or something to here and stay with members for awhile while we visit and go to the farewell. Then we could either fly or road trip or train ride back to Tucson and she could spend a few days there with us then fly home.  I'm not sure exactly all the dates of when everything is planned like Disneyland or the exact day of the farewell so it might not work at all, but it's just an idea.  Another thing, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my bike.  Do we really want it to come home or should I just donate it to the mission?  It would need some repairs.  The front brakes don't work and I think some parts need to be replaced.  I'm not sure how much it would cost to ship it home.   Mom- I taught a part member family how to make cinnamon rolls (or rollas de canela) this week.  She didn't know what they were but they "sounded good".  They turned out nice. :-)  Thank you Mom, Dad, Natalie, James, Clark, Lila and Michael for the beautiful memories we have created together and the many more we still have in the future!  I'm excited to spend eternity with you flashing back on our wonderful lives!  I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Hi everybody!   I hope everyone had the opportunity to attend General Conference.  It was AMAZING!  Our mission president always tells us to go with specific questions for ourselves and our investigators and pray for revelation.  I heard several talks that specifically addressed the major concerns that I had.  It worked with Sister Alvarez too.  It's amazing how Heavenly Father speaks through His prophets to answer everyone's prayers at once.  Really incredible.  On Saturday there was a couple that took all ten missionaries out to IHOP between sessions.  On Sunday they had arranged that they and a few other members bring potluck lunch for all of us.  We really appreciated their service.  It was so nice of them.  I loved how a lot of the general conference talks were about service.  I just wanted to go and completely eliminate world hunger or something after that.  I hope I can always find something I can do to help make a difference.  

Magdalena is solid.  She's getting baptized next Saturday.  She's calling people in the ward herself and telling them she's getting baptized.  So she's 100% committed to it.  We're excited.  Our investigator, Javier, who's supposed to get baptized on the 23rd might have to start working on Sundays.  We're praying that there will be a way for him to come to church. He's very humble and sincere.  His wife, the member, is really happy he's listening to us.  

With our combined effort, we found 7 new investigators this week. I've only gotten higher than that once in my first area when we found 10 in one week.  It's wonderful.   

Here's a poem inspired by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk in conference:

Are you waiting on the road to Damascus

looking for a sacred grove

that is not your own?

It might be the place it was done before

where angels appeared

a life was changed

lessons learned

but it's not yours.

Don't think your inspiration needs to be

like others have received.

How beautiful were the waters of Mormon

to those who there

received a remission of their sins.

They were not the waters of Jordan

but they were enough.

It's what you do

where you are

with what you have

when the opportunity is given

that holds the importance.

Not how close in comparison

or geographical location

you mirror the spiritual spotlights of history.

Are you waiting on the road to Damascus

for someone else's angel to come?

It's really true that sometimes we don't feel we have received a testimony or an answer to prayers just because we don't mirror what we have heard from the pulpit or articles in the church magazines.  We all receive answers to prayers and revelation UNIQUELY.  Heavenly Father knows each of us and will answer in the way best suited to each of us.  Since we are all different, we will receive different answers at different times and different places. 

I loved Elder Holland's testimony of our living prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  I know we have a living prophet today and 12 apostles that lead and guide Christ's church by His own hand. 

It's finally starting to get hot.  My appendages are slightly more pink.  It feels good to be in the sun after all the rain. 

Thank you for all your prayers and support.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

                  Hermana Evans

March 28, 2011

Hi family!!!! I love you so much!  Mom, thank you so much for the shirts! I've gotten compliments on both of them. (And they WON'T SHOW SWEAT!!! Even when we're biking.  I wish I had these last summer.   Sister Harris, part of our quartet, lived in the Spanish BYU  housing and cousin Ali was one of her roommates.  Small world.  Tell James not to worry.  Worrying makes it harder to remember things for the test.  As long as you do your absolute best all semester then study your best for the test then pray for help to remember what you've learned, you'll come away with the satisfaction of knowing you have earned your grade whatever it may be.  You're smart, James. You'll do fine.  Did Clark and Michael get my birthday cards?  I hope they liked them.


Hi everyone! Hope you had a good week.  This week we've had CRAZY weather. One day was cold, rainy, windy and cloudy.  The next was warm and sunny.  The next day was cold, rainy, windy and cloudy.  We've gotten more rain than in a long time I've heard.  This area does need rain.  It's good and bad. Good because we need rain. Bad because while it's raining, the field workers don't have work.  That's good because we then find them home but also bad because they need all the work and income they can get. 
We have a new baptismal date! We had our first church tour in months with the husband of one of the sisters in the ward.  He was very sincere and the Spirit was strong. He wasn't scared off by the invitation to be baptized at all. He just honestly wanted to know how to prepare.  His wife told us later how much he loved the tour and how he really does want to learn so he can know what he is doing, getting baptized.  I'm so excited!  We have two other investigators who have told us they are going to get baptized within the next few weeks.  They just don't want to set a specific date, but they are ready and WILL be baptized very soon. 
Thank you so much Mom for teaching me how to cook. I've been able to use my skills here.  I offered to teach a sister how to make pizza and invite her nonmember sister to learn as well. (her husband's the one with the baptismal date)  The sister didn't come but we taught her how to make it anyway.  She told us yesterday that she's made it again by herself since then.  It makes me so happy to teach someone something that they will use.  I've also got good memories making pizza with my family and I love giving someone else the ability to have those kind of memories. (It works that way sharing the gospel too :-) ) The relief society found out I know how to make pizza and now I'm going to teach the whole relief society how to make pizza at an activity on April 6th.  Should be fun. :-) 
Four sister missionaries in one apartment is a party to say the least.  The Bishop asked us to visit as many members as possible and get them excited for General Conference next weekend.  So what we're doing is Sister Harris and Sister Rivera are focusing on visiting all the members in the ward and teaching about prophets and inviting them to come to general conference and bring their friends.  Along the way they are finding new investigators and part-member families to teach along with less-actives who need visits or addresses that are no longer correct and need to be changed.  Sister Alvarez and I are focusing on investigators, both the ones we have and finding more.  It's working out so far.  With the one-bathroom situation, they shower in the night and us in the morning.  Most of the bathroom stuff like toothbrushes, face wash and makeup are in the kitchen so we don't take up the bathroom doing that when someone else really needs to use it.  They gave us a car to share so we're doing well working with that plus members teaming up with whoever doesn't have the car.  We're still riding bikes and walking frequently.  We don't want to use the car unless we have to. 
I read an article in the ensign with an analogy I really liked:
"Individual members are like bricks. None of us 'bricks, however, is perfectly sound.  Under close scrutiny each is flawed-a gouge here, a bump there.  When we are placed side by side with other bricks there is seldom a perfect fit.  Inevitably there are gaps or wobbles where others' imperfections come in contact with our own.  Without the 'mortar' of love, tolerance, patience and forgiveness our efforts to build the kingdom would come to naught." --Lee Ann Fairbanks.  She's talking about church members but I think that concept can be applied to any person you come in contact with or work closely with.  We all have imperfections and need to realize we need the principles of the gospel which we all have in common to be sturdy and strong. 
I also read a list of 7 life rules that when kept will keep your faith strong:
1. read personal scriptures daily
2. read scriptures as a family at least 5 days per week
3. have personal prayer every morning and night.
4. AH I forgot to write down number four. sorry
5. attend church every Sunday as a family
6. hold family home evening every week
7. attend the temple every month.
 
At the end of every transfer they hold a special fireside for all the missionaries who are going home.  They can invite all the members and investigators and converts they want so they can say goodbye to them. Since Sister Alvarado is leaving halfway through this transfer, this was going to be her farewell too. She wrote and invited a lot of people and we planned to go to Fresno on Tuesday where she would do all the final-day activities for the departing missionaries and I would work in a trio with Sister Boyce and Sister Rojas.  We met up at night to come back to Madera.  It ended up that Sister Alvarez missed the farewell. She started throwing up an hour before it was supposed to start!  I showed up at the end to pick her up and met all the people there to see her who were asking where she was.  One member from Hanford had brought us each a custom-made crocheted blanket. Sister Alvarez was able to see some of the people who stuck around until she got there from resting at the mission home.  Then the next day she fell on her bike and scraped up her knees pretty bad.  Then the next day we had the amazing church tour and set the baptismal date.  After much trial and tribulation come the blessings. There were a lot of little things going wrong with her week for a few days.  I kept telling her that Satan knows how awesome she is and knows how little time she has left so he's going to fight as hard as he can to get her to stop working so hard.  But we've just been working harder and we've had a lot of good things happen since then.  I've felt the spirit very strongly in most of the lessons this week. 
I think that was everything I wanted to say.  I hope everyone has an awesome week!
        Hermana Evans