Hermana Aguilar and Hermana Evans

January 28, 2014

My family!

I love you guys!  And here is some news!  Hermana Aguilar is so funny!  She also hates gringo food... so i guess that means I dont have to share! Way kidding!  I really do like sharing!

But ok, here is the deal, we had a meeting or something huge every day last week and had so little time to work... It was nuts.. but, not to worry, we are all fine!  We all made it out alive.  

Maria del Carmen is doing great, she got confirmed this sunday and she was so scared.. she downed a huge thing of water right before going up there to get confirmed... and she is going to leave with us now to visit and convert other people!  She is all sorts of excited!  I keep remembering when we challenged her to be baptized and she said, "are you serious, because Im really excited."  And she really just did it!  

Umm... fine i'll tell you... I am going to be recieving the worst mom in the world award very quickly... why?  oh nothing... we just got on a bus on sunday to head up to an aldea like 30 minutes away and when we were almost there I realized that I had no money... awk.. so I asked hna Aguilar if she brought some, she just looked at me, smiled, and said, a tiny bit.  So we got up there all right... and then we taught the people we went to teach but it was time to head back and we started getting a little worried... because in total I had about 75 cents... not american cents, guatemala cents, and that is close to nada nada nada... and she only had about 6 quetzales and 15 cents... but we needed 7 to get home.. so I was searching my backpack for all sorts of things that were cool that we could trade for a ride.. turns out i no longer carry cool things. but we explained our problem to the bus man and he hestitated for a little while before letting us go home... over 10 cents guys!  I almost had a heart attack!  But we made it back just fine!  Miracles work!  Luckily we are obedient, I dont want to know what would have happened if we werent obedient..

Oh, while we were up there in Santa Maria de Jesus, we taught a very sweet old woman named Delfina and spanish is not her first language... So there were points in the lesson where she just smiled and nodded and said yes.  In the end it all worked out, she just ended the lesson with "well I cant get baptized, Im evangelical" and after explaining a few times that its ok, she can change that, we decided to end the lesson.  

Angelica is still waiting on her papers to get divorced and then married... but she is super set on getting baptized.  It was way cool, we taught her son with her one day and she started shouting her testimony basically and saying how before she just thought that every church was true but then she noticed that they are not all true and now she will never change.  She plans on dying in the church.  Its pretty awesome to see her bare her testimony.  

Jeramias is going to classes on sundays now... but is still pilas... I feel like he will come around very quickly... 

Yessenia kind of disappeared.. she doesnt have permission to get baptized... yet... 

Francisco is having a hard time committing to going to church, but he reads the Book of Mormon... Lots of prayers would be good for him.

Hna Aguilar is so awesome, she is super thoughtful.  She always does little things to help out, even if she doesnt know what is going on right now, she is trying really hard to learn and get it down right.  And we bought some good shoes for her and now she is all set to conquer the world.

Did I mention that the one shoes that I didnt like very much when I came are now my favorites?  The ones that hurt really bad? Yeah, now they are the best ones.  Everybody wants them.  

Umm... do you know that I love this gospel? and being a missionary?  I think I will do it forever.  Yep, I have never been more tired, or more stressed or worried about other people in my whole life.  But I have also never been happier!  So it all pays off!  I think you guys should all come on a mission too.  :)  Speaking of missions, where is Nate's mission call?  Shouldn´t it be coming soon?  Im voting for Guatemala City Central mission.  The best one in the world!

I love you guys!  Be safe and happy and I love you.

Love Hermana Evans

January 23, 2014

My family!!  

Hi!  I love you guys!  Lots and lots!

Ok, so I got my new companion, hna Aguilar, she is from Honduras, and she is so cute.  She ends every contact with "in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."  She is so fun! :)  I dont know what part of Honduras she is from... she always just says, "the middle" when I ask her what its called.  I think we will get along very well.  She is 20 and aparently her brother served in this mission too and got home in August!  Way cool.

this week has been crazy.  but great too!!! Oh my goodness!  So much to tell you!  So the mission has the goal to have every area baptize in january.. and we havent had much success getting people to accept baptismal challenges.. but boy do i have a story for you.

It all starts in the street..  We saw one investigator in the street, Maria del Carmen, she is about 30 and hasnt been able to get baptized because she drinks coffee, but we saw her and told her we were going to visit her right then (she already had enough attendances to get baptized) so we went to her, we taught her and she told us that she quit drinking coffee two weeks ago for a medicine that she is taking, we challenged her to get baptized for the 19 of January.... and do you know what happened on the 19?  She did it!  she got baptized! 

It went like this:  We labeled sunday "Miracle Sunday" and we really saw SO MANY MIRACLES!!!!  Everything was falling into place... until we went to her house to pick her up for her baptism... she wasnt there!!!  but we searched the town, tried to call her, looked at her friends houses, everywhere!  and nothing!  And then we ran into a woman, Hna Choc, who is in a wheel chair and told us to give her a life to her daughters house... and how can you say no?  So we ran with her.. almost dumped her out of her chair a few times, but it all turned out fine... and then we called Pres. Catalan (the Branch pres) to ask if by any chance Maria del Carmen was already in Antigua at the church.... AND SHE WAS!!!  I guess she just got excited or something!  But it was so cool.  We got there, she got baptized, and then boom. She is getting confirmed on sunday.  Way cool.

We also ran into an antichrist on monday... He doesnt fall on me well....he saw us and said, "Red hair, your from pennsylvania" so I said, "close, utah!" (he is a gringo also) and then he saw hna Rohbock and said, "mmm... quaker? mormom?"  and then he began to ask why on earch we believe that Christ lived, because Christ's situation has happened over 300 other times in the history of everything.  and then we were trying to leave and he just kept talking... that man sucked out my happiness!  It was so weird!  Just being in his presence made me want to throw up!  and we finally got a word in and said, "well, we know Christ is our Savior... and you are welcome to pray about it." and he said, "wow... you are really in there!"  yes... I think we are really in here.. and ive never been happier.  This gospel gives me joy, that man made me sick... I think I know exactly where I want to be.... 

We also had zone conference!  And that was way awesome!  But i dont remember specifics from that.. but I wrote it down in my journal.. so Ill tell you more about that in a year.  

Yesterday Elder Cook came to talk to us, and by us I mean my mission, mission south and mission east of guatemala... SO MANY MISSIONARIES!  but he spoke right to us.  and shook every one of our hands.  And if felt like he looked right into my soul when he shook my hand. Same with the area authorities.

but anywho, I love you guys a ton!!! Be safe and happy and I love you!

Love, Hna Evans

"dont know if you saw the bigfoot sighting…"

"last weeks pray"

"good news!  and bad news... good news is we caught the mouse, bad news is also that we caught the mouse…"

"we did the newly weds game with our companions"

January 14, 2014

My family!!

I love you guys a whole mountain!  Holy cow!  Another change has come and gone!  What is happening?!  Time flies so fast!!! I just got here!! But today we got phone calls for who will be training, and imma have another hija!  They grow up so fast.  

This week has flown by.. and also crawled... the goal to not speak english was so hard... especially with 4 gringas in the house... me costo un monton.  But, we did it and thats what counts. 

Ok, so we have a less active over here from the US, from Boston, he looks Guatemalan though, we found him knocking doors and he acted like a normal joe until last week he finally told us he is a member, and he was going to go on a mission, but then a leader of the church took everything from him.  His job, his car, house, money, everything, he had 100 bucks and his dog when he got to Guatemala.  It was so hard to hear his story, he was so broken and then we tried to give him another book of mormon, but he wouldnt take it.... yet... he told us that there was a time in his life that he loved that book, but he cant do it yet.. he has gone to 5 different churches after leaving ours and has just felt confused.  I know he will be able to come back, but if you want to pray for him, his name is Jonathon.

Another man said he might come to church, he might not, he doesnt know if he will be a live by sunday... he is a very old man... but also very funny...

There was a gringo that came up to us while we were teaching a lesson and told us how he really liked our morals... did I mention he is a catholic priest?  

OH!!!! Jeramias went to church!! That was so cool... He said he would come, and then, he just did it!  And he had a blue shirt with a tie and everything!  It was so awesome!  He even said he liked the church!  MIRACLES!!  But he might start studying on sundays... so we will see if we can work that problem out... but he really is so pilas.  SO PILAS I TELL YOU!  

We hit Jacob 5 today in our reading of the book of mormon, Its even more confusing in spanish... but its good, you can really learn alot from the scriptures, ya know it?  I hope you are all doing well with reading your book of mormon, if not, now is a great time to start.  :)  

Welp, thats about all for now.. I love you all!

Be safe and happy and i love you!  

Hermana Evans

January 7, 2013

My family!!

I love you guys!  A whole mountain!  Thats a thing you know, les amo un monton.  

Ok, this week has been interesting, Yessenia, she is a young girl, accepted to be baptized for the 18 of this month, and we have found some seriously positive people these days.  Not even kidding!  One is named Jeramias.  He seems really sincere too.  I expect cool things to happen with him.  Also, I dont know if I told you about Anival, he is so funny, he just needs to go to church... And remember Alex?  the super funny one?  He moved to Solola!  Sad right?  But we are sending his information to the sisters over there to baptize him hopefully.  

Oh, on new years, we were all sleeping when midnight hit, but the fireworks went nuts!  It was crazy!  More explosions than christmas.  It was a party im sure, but I woke up long enough to take note of the war going on in the sky and then I was out again, didnt lose much sleep.  

I saw a very dead chicken this past week!  Which, there are lots of things like that, but this time one of the kids was carrying it around.  Really nasty pants...

We found a track the other day, its dirt guys, and people were running on it!  I think a high school team, they all seemed young, but it was pretty cool, we kind of want to run on it in the mornings, we'll see if that happens.

Ok, so heres the deal, Eddy, he is a joven that hasnt come to church in a year and we have been visiting him, it all started with the members, this happens a lot!  And it breaks my heart!  other members will say something and then people go inactive their whole lives!!  Its really sad, and is so easily prevented, but choose the right!  We all have rings about it, lets do it.  

Oh, by the way, thanks for the rings!  I finally dug around in the stocking and found stuff at the bottom!  I should have known!  but Hna Rohbock loves her ring too, she thinks its way cool.  And how did you know I have always wanted a spinny ring?  Its super fun.  and the little nativity is super cute.  I dont even care it is after christmas, im leaving it out.  

Hna Rohbock and I are doing a thing where we dont speak a lick of english this whole week (dont worry, we dont speak much english anyway).  Boom.  Its happening.  I dont know why, but it makes me feel like I cant eat either. Like we are fasting from everything, food, english, everything.  (again, dont worry, I am still eating.  Lots of things... my dream of a 6 pack has gone very far down the drain...)

Ok, thats all for now, if you want to read some cool stuff, look at DyC 107, and also, we started reading the book of mormon over as a mission, if you guys wanna join us, you are welcome to!  We finished 2 ne 21 today, and we plan to finish before conference.  

I LOVE YOU GUYS!  

Be safe and happy and adios!

Love, Hermana Evans  

Christmas in Guatemala

Hermana Rohbock and Hermana Evans

December 31, 2013

My family!

I love you guys!

Boy do I have some stuff to tell you.  Ok first, that was the weirdest thing in the world to talk to you guys, just so you know.  I mean it was great!  I loved talking to you, but it was so weird.  I was happy to hear your voices, it was a great christmas!  Thank you for the package!  Really, I love everything that was in it!  And dont worry, I shared with my comp.  :)  And how did you know I love snickers?  But anywho, this week was great.  It really was, I think I told you what we did for christmas, but I will go ahead and tell you again.

We went to Maria Elena's house, she is the best and we celebrated with marshmallows and fun things like that.  And then world war 3 broke out and everyone blew everything up.  But dont worry, we are and were totally safe.  I think.. people were dressed up in masks with huge heads, I dont know why they do that, but they do it a lot. 

Oh, before I forget, one of the members in San Martin gave me lotion when I left, and well, you will never guess the scent.... guess though... Ok, Ill tell you.  It is the sent of moms foot lotion!!  How sweet is that?! 

Ok, and on sunday we watched a marathon run by us while we were picking up investigators for church.  they were all dressed up again!  One was batman, there was mario and luigi, an indian, pluto, and Christ (with a cross) that one was really terrible, but there were lots of very random costumes. 

We had an investigator show us his huge garden the other day, his name is Anival, and he is so funny.  He does weird little hand guestures during the lessons and everything.  Cooky.  But someday I will just have to show you how he does it, its so funny. 

Alex, the one that speaks katchikel is still so funny.  He told us he just really likes his coffee, thats why he cant leave it. But he also told us when we asked if he read the chapter from the BoM, "oh yeah, its really great.  it has great advice, it is really quality."  which directly translates to "didnt read", but he said he would read the next chapter. 

Oh!  We had divisions again!  I went to Chimaltenango with Hna Arguello, she is great.  and I saw hna Blackmer there!  She is over there still, so that was a really fun and learning experience.

Ok, Francisco, he is a good guy, his son died on friday.... from cancer.. it was really sad because he told us that he would never see his son again, so we shared the plan of salvation, but he is having a hard time understanding life after this world...  It was so cool though.  We taught him sunday and then said that we would pass by on monday to visit again sometime and he said he wouldnt be there for much of the day, so we were just going to say we could visit another day but then he said, "no no!  What time are you coming?  I will wait for you!"  And he did, he is so cool.  a long time ago he went to church, but he hasnt for a while now.  We feel like he will start making progress really soon. 

Angelica, as long as we can get everything straightened out, she will get divorced, married, and baptized this week... Miracles guys, they happen! 

I also have a VERY EMBARRASSING story to tell you guys someday... I dont know when.. havent decided yet... but its a good one.  Thats for sure. 

Shout out to Aunt Connie, how are you doing?  and Joe and Aaron?  And Hunter?  And Uncle Ken and Uncle Ralph? And everybody?

I love you all.  and I really am so glad to be part of your family!  And thank you for everything you do for me still!  ADIOS!

Be safe and happy and I love you all.

Love, Hermana Evans

December 24, 2013

My family!  

I love you guys lots!

So here is crazy news!  Im going to call you tomorrow.  That is really weird.  Not gonna lie, it doesnt feel real.  

But ok, this week has been GREAT!! I accidentally tried to rob a store the other day, dont remember if I told you that.. but we are teaching the people I tried to steal from.  Oh, It wasnt on purpose, just fyi, we got talking and then when we left we realized we didnt pay... but its all good now.  I paid.  And they are so funny.  Victor and Alex, they speak katchikel (who knows how to spell that) and they just laugh sometimes!  During the lessons they will just say things like "That is so true" and then they laugh.  dont worry, they arent making fun of us.  They are just SO happy!  And Alex says to us "oh my sisters, can you come back later today?"  Or, "my sisters, Joseph Smith was a prophet" or things like that.  Its pretty sweet. Alex prayed in katchikel one day and at the end told us "I just prayed in katchikel." SO FUNNY!  I guess he thought we didnt know!

Mass is at 6 am every sunday, and I have been invited lots of times.  Ya know, those catholics are good little missionaries.  They invite everyone to church!

Hna rohbock and I got to play mario brothers in real life.  someone was making a door and the sparks were flying out into the street so we got to get our timing just right to run past the door safely.  Good news.  We did it. :)

A drunk man was walking down the street and said something... He either said "good is my life" or "food is my life"  Im not sure.. but I hope he said Food is my life.  

Speaking of drunks, they keep joining us in lessons.  Its really funny, and i dont know why we are so popular these days, but they have been really interested to hear about the restoration.  One guy came out of his house while we were talking to his wife and was explaining how he cant see well while smacking his eye and waving at the pamphlet.  Good stuff.

We are finding positive people!  Its pretty cool!  And one guy said he wanted to be able to quit doing drugs and drinking and go to church with us.  He also said "and about my baptismal date, can i still do that?  Can I go with you to get baptized that day?" He has to go to church first, but we like his attitude. 

Another woman named Manuela hasnt gone to church in a while and we visited her and she explained how sad she was because she hasnt had a job in 6 months and doesnt know why God has allowed her to suffer like this.  So we shared some stuff (I dont remember what, The Holy Ghost was in charge of that lesson) and then she came to church the next day! and the branch activity yesterday!  So she is d0oing really well! 

Angelica was going to get married and baptized this coming weekend, but she cant finish taking out the papers she needs until January.. So she will get baptized next month..

Yessenia just needs to talk to her mom, but she has two siblings that are also nice and positive that can totally get baptized aqui pronto.  Weve just gotta get permission.  dont worry, it will work out.  I know it will.

But that is about all!  I LOVE YOU GUYS!  MERRY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!! 

Be safe and happy and I will call you tomorrow.. in the morningish sometime.. I dont know, we will draw sticks. But Love you guys! 

Love Hermana Evans

December 17, 2013

My family!!! 

I love you guys!

Ok, holy mackeral.. so much.  Ok, so guess who is back in zona Antigua!!!!! this girl! Its pretty sweet.  I love it.  I also love San Pedro, but i do miss San Martin a bit.. But thats not the point the point is this:  so many funny things and awesome things have happened.  Are you ready? 

First, my new comp is hna Rohbock, she is from Payson Utah and will turn 22 on the 28 of this month.  

oh, so on christmas day I will call you guys, I dont know how exactly... it might just be a phone, it might be with the compy, but not with video, thats for sure.  But Im sure hna Gaynor will email you guys more.  Her and her husband are from Canada and live around the corner from us.  

Also, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD AND PAIGE AND IAN!!!!!  I forgot to mentino that last week... 

Oh, shout out to Gabe, I got your letter, I will reply... someday... when I have time.. but yes, I met Domingo Lux, he is the assistant to the mission leader now and the Balan family is awesome.  they are preparing to enter the temple soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAIGE!!!!!!!!! I love you lots and lots.

Ok, on saturday we were teaching a lesson in the doorway of a womans house, and a man who may or may not have been totally drunk came along... (he was totally drunk, no question about it) and he just kept telling us to pray for him and hyow he got beat up and all that.  then he sat down and joined us.  Every now and then he would remind us to pray for him... and then during the closing prayer, he just said "Im going to die" and then dropped his head... annnnd im pretty sure he stayed like that until we left.  i dont know... We are going back in a couple days so we will see what happened ot him.  

Tomorrow we are going to have a christmas activity!!!  And I finally get to go to the temple again!! 6 months guys, I havent been in 6 months!!  but tomorrow! We get to leave the house at 3:30 in the morning, but its worth it.  It totally is.  

there is a very sweet man named Isaias, he just got baptized, and i told him that he is pilas, he corrected me and said, "no, im Isaias!"  So onw he is just Pilas Isaias.

We were teaching a lesson with a woman named Angelica (she is an investigator, but her kids are recent converts, she has wanted to be baptizeda  while now, but cant until she gets divorced and then married to the man she is living with) and Ester(another investigator) so we challenged Ester to be bapted on the 4 of January and she said no, so we were about to turn to Angelica to challenge her too, but she just said "I will!  I will get baptized on the 4! My papers are almost done!"  and her papers really are almost done!  She is so close!  so you will be hearing about her shortly.  

Oh, Look up mosiah 24:14.  I love it.  The Lord is seriously so ready and willing to take away our pains and sadnesses.  

But that is all i have for you right now... I will try to send some pics.. But yeah!  I love you tons!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Waters of Mormon

"my corte"

Hermana Evans, Hermano Martin and Hermana Yepez

Hermana Evans and Hermana Yepez at the Waters of Mormon

Waters of Mormon

"recognize this sweater?  Guys, i was at that horse show!! I have that sweater!  Small world…."

Hermana Evans and Hermana Mari

Waters of Mormon

December 10, 2013

My family!!!! 

I love you.  Boom.  There, I said, it, we were all thinking it.

Ok this week... Guess who went to the waters of mormon?!  Thats right, this missionary did!  I will send pictures.  no tengan pena.  But it was so cool.  We got up nice and early to get over there, its like 3 hours from our area.. but totes worth the drive. 

Oh on saturday at 6 in the afternoon, the country burned devils... filled with fireworks.  These people are crazy sometimes.  The devils were tied to posts, and then at 6 they started exploding like crazy.  I couldnt hear a darn thing.  And then they just let the fire chill in the road for a little bit, but no biggie,, these guys have plenty experience with fireworks. 

Also, I bought corte, did I tell you?  I took a pic also, so I'll send that too.

And im leaving my little pueblo tomorrow.  :( mah.. Im a little nervous about what is next... we will just see!   Hna Yepez is getting her little hija tomorrow too, she is nervous she wont be able to find the right buses to get home.  She totally will, she is pilas.  She already knew everything pretty much when she came. 

Ok, this week, I have been thinking about why on earth do we sin?  when we know what is right and wrong and we still sin.... it doesnt make sense to me.  We are all so imperfect, but for some reason God still loves us, He has to deal with a lot of imperfect people.  Like the one talk from that one guy said.  Pres. Uchtdorf i think..

Another thing, Hna Yepez and I were talking about how we decided to come on a mission and getting scared about what would have happened if we hadnt come, I dont like to think about it.  I have learned so much in these few months, I wouldnt have been able to learn all this without the mission, I know that much.  so thank you to everybody that helped me decide to come on a mission.  Especially my family, thank you guys, I love you to infinity and beyond, and Im super glad that you are my family.  Super glad.  :) 

Ok, that is all for now, Love you!  Be safe and happy and I love you.

Love Hna Evans