Hermana Evans and her companions... Hermana Merrell and Hermana Blackmer

June 5, 2013

My mom!! and family!!

I loved your emails. loved them i tell you!!  i was laughing out loud for too long... #embarrassing!

Im doing so so great, I love it here, I miss all of you, I cant believe its already been 3 weeks.  3 WEEKS!!!

Ok, my list of things to tell you....

I ate 12 chocolate covered strawberries a while ago and I didnt even feel bad about it.

We went to the market last p day and that was SUPER CRAZY!!!  Mom, Im really in Guatemala, not even joking.  part of me wondered for a long time if I was just in a remote part of SLC, but no, this is the real deal!  we got to walk around the market and I bought a drug rug (its a poncho, my comp calls it that though... and i thought it was funny...) and she haggled for me.  so sweet. 

Also last p day, we got back from the market, I sat down to sew something probably and hna Merrell was going down for a nap when a women told us we had to change rooms!!!  Right then!! and we had an hour before we had to be to the temple!!  So we were packed and unpacked in the new room in 40 minutes.  I think its ok to not be humble right then. 

We have Celestial Bathrooms now.  So priviledged.  but really, they are celestial.

We got new roommates (we loved the old ones btdubs...)  and one of them is from Austrailia!  Im sure i spelled that wrong, but she is way cool.  she is 28 and she swears sometimes!  Only because its not bad in Australia though!  she is doing better now! 

I have taken on 4 or 5 more sewing projects since my last email.. the elders keep ripping pants they bought at the market when they play with the hackey sack thing.... its really funny when they come up to me.."hermana Evans?  ummm... so I hear you can sew?"

I got your package on Tuesday the 28th.  :)  it made me happy to see your handwriting.

I got your DearElder on the 29th and I LOVED IT!!!  I love them a lot. I think its a great idea.  More of those are definitely welcome.  I like hearing from people in the middle of the week.  So here is news for EVERYONE!!  I LOVE DEARELDERS!! 

Dad, I love you so so much and I want you to be so so happy. :)  You are awesome.

Oh, how is the VISA sitch going for everyone?  Are they getting VISAs yet?

I finally have the 1st vision memorized in spanish.  #winning

I loved the pictures!! Keep em coming!  :)  im sorry Mort died though, thats sad.  But it is super funny that you guys took him with you.

We are OWLways singing or praying here.  I love it!  Dont worry mom, I always have a prayer in my heart.  just like you told me too.  and it is HELPING ME SO MUCH!!!

Im learning that I cant think in english but talk in spanish... it just doesnt work..  there is a switch that i have to flip.

OH, for the friends out there, I would love to hear about mission calls... for instance, HOW THE HECK IS ANNA'S MISSION STUFF GOING?!  (Anna, if youre reading this, I want to know EVERYTHING!!)

There is tile everywhere.  EVERYWHERE!

We got to go to the temple again yesterday for p day and I loved it again.  It is so special! :)  This is the tiniest temple ever, but it is still so so great!

News:  I would just send letters and such to my mission now... or just wait til im there and send dearelders...

OH!  i almost forgot!  if you get a friend request from a Jessica Blackmer, accept it.  Doing so can unleash pictures.  We have an in...dont worry, its totally legal and ok.  But thats how the cookie crumbles right now..

Ok, love you!

Love, Hermana Evans

Guatemalan MTC

Robyn is in the 2nd row from the top and 4th from the left, her companions are on the top row,  2nd and 3rd from the left.

May 27, 2013

Family!

 

phat news!  today is email day!  because the newbies will be here wednesday we wont be able to email then, so today its monday.. i have no idea about next week.  no idea. 

 

ok, here is my list of things i have to say to you. 

 

Elder Hunt in my district is so cool, he always says very funny things but one of the cooler things he has said was "the language isnt always easy, but the message is always true".  Awesome.  :)

 

Ok, quick story... a few days back I woke up at what i thought was 6:45 and i had a heart attack. because even just a little disobediant is still not exactly obediant.  So i jump up, check my watch again, then flip on all the lights waking everybody up..... only to realized that it was 5:45 and we all still had a solid 45 minutes of sleep left.  #embarrassing.

 

My spanish is super rocky still, but its coming along.  we started an english fast today... it is supposed to go tilsaturday... SO HARD!!! but I feel fluent already.. and then a native person starts talking and Im humbled.  haha :)

 

Oh, so Ive been pretty healthy, mostly... i had a fever and some other things... (no one wants to know.. trust me...)  and I was feeling really stinky, but i made it til bed time, took some ibuprofin and went to sleep.  I woke up fine the next day.  So all is well.   although, we have been advised not to eat so much of the fruit because it is causing a lot of sickness around here...

 

When it rains here, it POURS!!!  Like, that saying came from guatemala. not even kidding. 

 

ABORT MISSION WITH THAT LAST SCRIPTURE I SAID WAS MY MISSION SCRIPTURE!!!  I dont know what it was, but it was WAY wrong.  I changed my mind to Alma 29:2... if its too late, i understand...

 

Oh, in your last email you said you wanted to text me and ask how im doing and such.. well, i feel the exact same way!  Cept its not as bad as i thought it would be to not have a phone and internet access 24/7. 

 

the people here break my heart.. we were leaving to do TALL (boring stuff on the compy... dont even worry...) when we saw two little boys.. like LITTLE boys, smaller than Michael and Isaac that were out shining shoes!!  They didnt have a mom with them at all!  their little faces were dirty and they were sitting on the ground shining a guys shoes and i couldnt help myself from tearing up.  It made me think of how grateful i am that the twins arent in that situation, but at the same time, I hate that there are people in the world that have to live like that. I wish I could just give them all of my things! 

 

ok, not sad stuff anymore...

 

Waking up at 6:30 erryday isnt bad at all.

 

the schedule here sucks, not because we are always busy, but because they always change it without saying anything until right before.  Like today!  today is a prime example.

 

the thought crossed my mind the other day... "this side the missipp doesnt apply to me anymore..."  super random.. I know...

 

I decided learning spanish is a lot like praying and trying to find an answer... I just go with what I think they said, and if it was way wrong, they correct me. 

 

There are a lot of Lopez's around here... a lot.

 

Yesterday we got to watch the Testiments!  how cool!  It has a lot more of a love story than i ever realized... we also watched Legacy.. Also a love story.. They are trying to kill us.  None of the hermanas could watch during the kissing scenes. 

 

Did I tell you about Marcos?  Im a real jerk if i didnt... Marcos was our first investigator and I had a hunch he wasnt a real one, because thats awful gutsy to put a bunch of newbies with a real prospect.  turns out he was a fake and he's our new night teacher.  he served a mission in peru.

 

MMM... I fail at eating.. i was eating a grape yesterday and it squished in my mouth... but the juice ended up on a poor little latina girl on the other side of the table... all we could do was laugh.. so embarrassing!!!!

 

oh, we had a relief society lesson on "finding your perfect husband"... umm.. what the heck?!  Dont they know where we are?!  It was a great lesson though!

 

I hear there arent many gangs in Guatemala, so dont worry dad... there are just a lot of drunks...

 

Kapri beus' talk keeps popping into my mind lately... "its not our place to judge them, it is our place to love them."

 

Every sunday we have to prepare a talk, whether we give it or not.  I learned to love preparing talks yesterday!! honestly!  I had fun and I felt good about it!  and then they called on my to give it!!!! MOM!!! I GAVE A TALK IN SPANISH!!!

 

I believe in the Gift of Tongues.. but i think it usually comes in the form of hope.... because no one here is just all of the sudden fluent.  We have to work butt hard to learn it, but it is coming. 

 

I got Sister Hildebrandt's DearElder and it made me so happy!  I flew with Hna Foster, someone tell her that.  The CCM is super small, we know just about everyone here.

 

The bugs are massive.  its disgusting.  I have a funny story but Im sick of typing so maybe ill tell it later.. maybe..

 

I keep mixing up hambre and hombre... two very different things.. it means something totally different when you say "tengo hambre hoy" vs. "tengo hombre hoy".... whoops!! embarrassing again!

 

oh, im the seamstress now i guess! haha ive fixed some of both of my comps skirts already...

 

Dad, I loved your email.  I love you!!

 

Ok, over n out. 

 

The gospel is true and I love you!!!!

 

Love, Hermana Evans

I have 20 minutes left.. mmm... I'll just send a ton of emails and hope you see them

Running out of tiempo.... and things to say... umm... no tengo palabras... nunca...

 

My spanish fast is going well!  so thats fun! 

I have 10 minutes left.. if you guys already forgot about me Im just going to have to stay in Guatemala para siempre!  Chistes... mostly...

 

I love you!  and umm.. Thank you for EVERYTHING!!!  thank you for running the email thing, thank you for helping me with everything whilst getting ready to leave and for helping me whilst ive been here.  I love you guys so much.  Im very glad I am sealed to you.  very glad. 

 

OOH!  we get to go to the market tomorrow!  Imma be a bartering fool!  Who knows, maybe i'll buy guatemala... i dunno, we'll just see what im feelin when we get there. 

 Temple also!  I get to go to the temple too!  WHOO! Its such a cool temple!  Tiny, but very cool.  I love it. 

Ok, 5 minutes left, so I have to wrap it up... I love you!  

Oh, the bug story.. Ill hurry. 

 

So they are massive ants... with wings.. like the size of the top third of my pinky.. huge!!! disgusting!!!  Well one got in the CCM and it wasnt dead yet.  so I, being the bravest hermana, grabbed a cup and a paper and scooped it up to take outside.  I just dumped it out the window and thought it was over... I thought.... The cup was RIGHT BY MY FACE when i looked into it and the BUG WAS STILL IN IT!!!  No justice in the world.  no justice.  So i screame, freaked out, died, had a heart attack and threw everything, including the cup out the window.  we were on the 3rd floor.  ok.  times up.

 

love you!  adios!

 

Love, Hermana Evans

Mom and Dad and family, I love all the emails.  love them.  I have two comps, hna Merrell and hna Blackmer P¨day was yesterday but we email today.. weird, I know Food is good, weather is great, people are great, Im doing WAY better!  (insert smiley face) Ok, so it takes 3 weeks ish for packages to get here.. thats the word on the street.. I got aunt Brendas dear elder!  loved it!  it was so nice to hear from her on the first day.  I have a massive list of things to tell you guys, so Im gonna hurry.  adjusting to the tap water is very hard... we cant drink it, or brush our teeth with it.  its hard the little hymn book you sent with me is awesome!  i use it way more than i thought i would. sorry about all the grammatical errors... it takes too long to correct... my mission scripture will be..... wait for it!!! D&C 124:113 If you want to send me some US postal stamps I wouldn{t be upset.. Oh, for packages, just write Hermana Evans on it.  No pictures, the owner of the postal system over here is canadian, so its totally safe.  If you just write Hermana, they will say Oh its just the mormons, let them have it.  and then they dont mess with anything. We have an investigator, his name is Marcos, we got him our second day here.  Its pretty scary, but honestly, that is what makes me feel so much better, it helps me remember why I came and brings  alot of joy to my life here. something awesome that one of our teachers said was this... I dont care who you were.  I care about who you are now and where you are going. SO AWESOME!! IT MADE ME SO HAPPPY! A woman told me I look like im 10 a few days ago.... AWKWARD We got to go to the temple yesterday and it was SO AWESOME!  It felt like Heavenly Father was just sitting by me and I could talk to him right then and there.  It was cool. I kind of hate spanish right now.. But dont worry, it{s coming along. Oh, Im not trying to brag or anything... but those youtube tutorials on how to pack REALLY helped!! like, I probably packed the best out of anyone.  Jk.. but for reals... but jk... Oh!  They had me pray at a devotional thing the first day! in front of everyone!!! and I couldnt do it in spanish so I just prayed in English and i havent seen any other gringos pray since then.. I might have ruined it for them.. Whoops!  but I prayed again at anothr meeting and I was able to do it in spanish and totally redeemed myself.  Oh, I learned how to pray in spanish, BTDubs!  I didnt think that was a big deal at first, but it is!  A massive WHOOP! Oh, I reached into my bag the other day to grab some trash and I found the mint from Olive Garden!  It made me cry a little! but Its ok, Im happy! I mailed a letter yesterday too.. Oh, one day in class we spent a while trying to learn how to do the hand snap thing... I kind of learned it.. but i make a terrible face everytime... I focus too hard.  my bad..  but I kind of have it down! For some reason my comps think Im funny... I cant imagine why...... Oh, If you want to send the camera cable, I wouldnt be mad.. I left it home on accident.. whooops!  Its in the camera box.. whereever that is.. it{s ok if you cant find it.  my arm is constantly tired from learning the snap thing.  just thought you would like to know.  the elders here are so funny.  one of them said [i honestly thought my stay at the CCM would be us watching Dora the Explorer] the phrase [if you can make it to sunday you can make it your whole mission]  is way too true.  Its very hard here, but after sunday happened i feel como un jefe!  I got this!  but dont worry, im still super humble about it. oh, the phrase like a boss doesnt mean anything cool here i dont think... none of the latinos seem to care when we say it. oh, we all had to prepare talks for sunday, and elder Hunt, from my district had to give a talk.. poor guy.. he cant speak spanish at all. he might be the reason the word gringo was invented in the first place.  if you get a letter in the mail with money in it from colorado from people with the last name merrell, just put it in my account please.. hna merrell cant use her card here... she forgot to call, so I might have to buy her a scripture case thing that is sick awesome and have her pay me back.  I bought an awesome scripture case btdubs... i{ll save it for when i get home though.  its just that cool the schedule here is more of a suggestion.. they dont follow it. Donde esta iman actually means where is the magnet. SHOUT OUT to ASHLEY WARBURTON!!! you have a twin here!  a personality twin!  someone tell her Anna, email me.  stat. Abby, email me.. stat.. Oh, Im a firm believer in the foot hand and mouth rules.  dont touch people, always wear shoes and wash your hands all the time. the elders are so awesome here.  They all have powerful testimonies and experiences.  its way cool Hna merrell was sick a few days ago.. it was sad.  she{s fine now.  Im fine.  were all fine.  OH!  Mom and dad, I love love love you! and you have tought me a lot, but I have grown SO MUCH here!! ok, im running out of time.  I{ll email again if i still have a second in a couple minutes. Love, Hermana Evans

Como un Jefe.

Is anyone else freaking out?  No? Just me?  Well now I know you are all lying.  Because I can't be the only one that is freaking out.  Did I mention that I sometimes get hit by cars?  The good kind, though.  Oh, did I also mention there is a good kind of car to get hit by?  Well, there is.  It's the car that comes out of no where and smashes you flat over.  I guess it's not a real car.. Just realizations.  MASSIVE ones.  Every once in a while I will just be minding my own business and all of the sudden I think, "dang, I don't think they have cheese or bread in Guatemala!" And then it gets real!  (I think they actually do have cheese and bread.... at least I hope so.  If not, I'll be introducing it to them.)

Well now that THAT'S out of the way, I spreckon I oughta tell some fun stories.  The other day... no... it was a couple months ago... any who, I got to do a "dialogue" with some Evangelicals from California!  Crazy right?!  That's what I said!  My blessed roommate, Abby, is on a committee that lets her do fun things like that.. so she invited me to one!  It was four hours long and we had lunch and talked about our religions.  We were supposed to have a pleasant conversation about how our religions were actually a lot alike and clear up any confusion.  That's what we were supposed to do.... we did not...

I really felt bad about it!  In institute only a couple days earlier we had learned that Light and Truth can only be given by revelation when there is the Holy Ghost and a willing heart.  I would draw you a picture but I don't know how to work The Internets like that.  So I was going in there thinking, "we absolutely have at least two of the three things to help them receive revelation.  We have the truth, and I can't imagine why the Holy Ghost wouldn't be there!"  So we all got to talking and almost immediately I realized we only had one of the three things... Light and Truth... They came to convert us (we kind of came to convert them too... but whatere!) they actually thought they were coming to teach us about their "true" church.

It was a very contentious time and I left with a headache.  One guy from BIOLA (Bible Institute of Los Angeles) talked for probably three out of the four hours.  They just kept telling us how people will never be able to create worlds and its taking away the glory of God if we think that.  He also said that when we die, we will just sing God's praises and glory Him.  Which, that idea didn't seem horrible, because that's what we will be doing... Except I don't believe we will be sitting around singing to Him. We tried to explain that just like an earthly father has children and those children have children, the father is still the father.  He didn't lose that title or anything that comes along with it.  Heck, that father WANTS his kids to grow up and create just like he did.  Same goes for Heavenly Father.  He finds joy in His creations!  And how awesome will it be to glory Him by creating!?

The BIOLA folks didn't like it one bit.. They also didn't like the three degrees of glory.  Because, "why would someone want to go to the Terrestrial and Telestial kingdoms and not be with God forever?!" Exactly!  We tried to explain that no one actually HAS to go there.  We hope everyone lives worthy enough to go to the Celestial kingdom.  God wouldn't create a plan that where most of His children fail.  He loves us too much for that.

Even though it was stressful, it was good to have that kind of experience.  Not every missionary experience will result in baptism.  We can only hope that we planted a seed in their hearts that will make them want to know more.   I do know the BIOLA group are good people with good hearts.. One girl emailed me the next day apologizing for what they said and that they really do love all of us.

I learned from that experience and it made me more excited and nervous for my mission (I leave in 15 days if anyone's counting...).  Welp, I guess I'll just brush up on my spanish really quickly... ¿Dondé está el baño? Como un jefe.  Adios amigos.  

Old Rabbits

My good friend Celine always says, "it's all comin' back to me now".  Good one Cel, you always know what to say!  It really IS all comin' back to me now!

Well, guess what I realized the other day?!  Above average happenings don't always have to be awkward and/or funny!  According to Urban Dictionary, "An average person is someone who loves Harry Potter, hates Twilight, prefers Google to Yahoo, and enjoys playing with their socks during church! --most of America, average--".  The part I actually found that applies to what I wanted to say today was the "enjoys playing with their socks during church" part.

Actually, we're not even talking about socks... We're talking about church.  Straight up!  My roommate has a blog and it is FANTASTIC!!  She is the one that made me realize that lots of things in life are "above average" not just funny things.  I should have seen this earlier, so stop trying to make me feel better.  I blame myself.  No, no don't bring me cookies to help me cope with the new news.  (Actually, if you want to bring me cookies I would be totally fine with that.  We can have a party and watch Lilo & Stitch.)

So I've been preparing for a mission my whole life, I just didn't know that until a couple months ago.  I think things like that happen a lot, Heavenly Father prepares us for things long before we are affected by them.  He's answering our prayers before we even ask for help!  How amazing is that!?  Don't you just want to hug Him forever?

Well, I've been trying to notice blessings in my life that have come before I even knew I needed them.  For instance, even just being raised in the gospel of Jesus Christ has been such a blessing.  I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a convert, to be able to see exactly what my life would be like without the gospel and what it's like with it.  But honestly, I am so grateful for the blessings I've had this whole time.  I wouldn't give that up for anything.

Growing up where I did has had a HUGE impact on why I am the way I am.  Our Father in Heaven can see everything and can see where we need to be, when we need to be there.  Who knew Garland, Utah would be the place to mold me.  We are in the places we are because we need to be there.  There is something special for each of us to do.

Being in Student Council has really helped me be a little more outgoing with strangers.  I was able to learn how to love people!  It's hard to serve people if you don't love them.  I already love the people in Guatemala and I can't wait to get out there and share the beautiful message of the gospel with them.  It can change their lives!  It has already changed mine so much.

Going to college has been so great.  I didn't want to leave my home, not even a little.  I wanted to stay with my parents for the rest of my days.  Years ago my dad would tell me I could have all the Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream I wanted if I would never leave.  Do you realize how tempting that offer was?!  But I knew that if I was going to meet people (something I didn't want to do, I had plenty of friends already, right?!), and learn how to live with other people I had to move out and go to college.

You know what they say, old rabbits CAN learn new tricks.  I'm pretty much an old rabbit.  And those are definitely new tricks.  I have met some pretty amazing people, and made friends that will definitely (hopefully...) last for the rest of forever.

And that my friend, is an above average happening.