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
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