Courtney's Week #77

Hola Familia!

Well, here I am in my new sector with my new companion. It is actually kind of a bummer to be training again. My new companion is great but she is also a little bit stubborn as well, but I guess I am as well so we will see how that goes. So my new sector isn´t really that far from where I was before, but it is extremely different. A couple weeks ago a lady was killed in my sector as she was just walking down the street. There are two gangs here that had a fight and she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Another thing that I thought was really weird is that there is a neighborhood full of communists-how weird is that? There are a ton of drugs here as well. It has been a great experience of listening to the spirit. There have been a few times this week when I cancelled our plans or when we took the long route to get to our appointments just because the Spirit has warned us of danger.

With this new sector and everything there are a lot of weird theories and things that I have never really had a problem with. For example, 7 different people have had sincere doubts about extra-terrestriales or aliens. One guy who I talked with yesterday had a firm belief that their were masters who come from the moon and that they are coming to prepare the earth to become a second moon and that afterwards is when Christ is going to come to the earth. 

Another man that I talked with yesterday had another theory that was really weird. He was really concerned because of all the wickedness in the world. So we started telling him about Prophets and how God has always called Prophets. He interrupted me and said, "You know what we lack these days, a couple, like Adam and Eve. Why don´t we have a great couple like them these days. The world needs a couple." It was really funny, after that he started talking about square watermelons. 

So we don´t really have investigators for right now. We found a girl called Melissa the other day and I wasn´t really excited for her. She talked to missionaries one day when she was lost and they helped her find her way. They passed us the referral. She has a lot of real intent. She is 16 years old and pretty much living in a house full of sin, but she was really really excited to go to church. When we passed by yesterday to bring her to church she wasn´t home. We were a little discouraged then last night she found us on the street and explained that she couldn´t go to church because she got really sick, went to the doctor and found out she was pregnant. It was really sad she is only 16 and her boyfriend is not exactly a winner, but hopefully the gospel can help her out a little bit. 

Hey, so something super awesome this week I found a random guy on the street wearing a Utah State Aggie game day shirt, how weird is that? It made my whole week. I went up and asked him if I could take a picture with him. He was absolutely tickled, but the sad news is that I forgot my adapter today, so you are going to have to wait until next week to see it. 

I got my travel plans, I told the office that they needed to let you guys know what was going on, so they should have sent you an email or something, but just in case I will forward them to you. 

Much love, 

Hermana Evans

Walker's Week #83

Hay guys whats up, this week was pretty good we started to find people. So this week they joined our ward with another ward that was kind of having a hard time. So they decided that we could help them out. So now we have a ward of about 150 people, which is super hard because I´m kind of used to the branches when everyone is happy if we get 90. So here I am trying to learn everybodys names. Which is not really the easiest thing in the world but I´ve started to find members that I can take to lessons and every thing so I think we´re doing better.

Courtney's Week #76

Hola!

So, I will not be flying to Vernal, I will be flying to Salt Lake, supposedly on the 27th of October. But I will talk to the Office and make sure that they send you something, at least an email or something. 

Hey, so guess what? I have emergency changes, but don´t worry. What happened is that in a different sector a convert fell in love with a misionera, actually it is one of my old companions Hermana Sampson. And so, well, today I am going to go replace Hermana Sampson and finish training her companion too. I was a little bit excited to have a rest from training, but I guess God has different plans for me. So I will be finishing the last 5 and half weeks training in a new sector. I am a little bit sad, Hermana Anderson is a super awesome companion so I am a little sad that I only had 1 week with her. Also the saddest part is that Guillermo is going to be baptized this Sunday and I won´t be able to be there for it. But, oh well, I guess it is just part of the mission--having my will swallowed up in the will of the Father. 

 

 

So a lof of the Chileans don´t really know how to smile or how to act in pictures, but this is Guillermo. 

On a brighter note, tomorrow is independence day in Chile. It is really cool because they dance and eat and celebrate for 5 days and it is really cool. It is also a little hard to find people to teach.

Hey, so we had a really cool experience this week. Guillermo, our investigator called me on Monday night and asked if we could come over to house to teach his son who was visiting for a couple of days. Unfortunately it was 11:00 at night and so we were already in our house for the night, but we passed by the next day. Guillermo was so excited. His son is 21-years old, he didn´t really have a lot of interest, he was mainly worried about missing the soccer game that would come on in half an hour, but it was really cool to watch Guillermo be so excited to share his testimony with his son. Before we had gotten there he had pretty much shared everything he had learned, the restoration, the Word of Wisdom, and also about baptism. It was a great experience and it warmed my heart a little bit to see how much Guillermo has grown and to see the testimony that he has acquired and is nourishing. 

Hey, Bridger, I am really sorry I forgot your birthday. I have been lamenting that all week. I love you lots, what did you do for your birthday party? I sent you an email to your other email. I hope you got it. 

Well, I love you all!

Hermana Evans

Grandma (Sonia y su nieta Antonella) who got baptized a few weeks ago, the one who had to wait until she was free from jail. She doesn´t really look like a criminal right?

Walker's Week #82

Hey whats up, So this week was okay, a whole lot of walking. My area is so small I can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes. Which isn´t so cool because that means a lot less people. So, yeah, we don´t really have anyone that we´re teaching so looks like I´ll be starting over, again. My companion is Elder Blanquet. He is super awesome. He is from Mexico city, Mexico. He was in my last district so I already new him. Yep I am always making Mexican jokes which probably isn´t very good but at least I´m having fun. So in Mexico there are a lot of really bad words that are normal here. So I try to use those words as much as I can and when he tells me that I can´t use them I just tell him I didn´t know and keep on using them. He´s awesome. So Joe your car is super awesome but you already knew that. Well talk to you all next week.

Courtney's Week #75

Hola Familia!

Hey, so I am still not really sure, but it could be that my return date has changed again. Elder Bednar is going to come on the 20th, and so I think that they have changed our date to the 26th of October, but I am not really sure. The office is still trying to work things out. 

Second update, ¡CAMBIOS! So I didn´t change sector. I think I am going to be here in San Francisco for the rest of my mission which is great, I really love this sector, and I do not want to move my suitcases again until I have to go home. I don´t really mind changing sectors, but I hate moving my broken suitcases in the subway and the buses and walking as well, it is awful. This morning as I was carrying Hermana Ruiz´s suitcase down the stairs in the subway the handle broke and her suitcase went rolling down the stairs. 

Oh, so I forgot to tell you, so my new companion is Hermana Anderson from Draper, Utah. She has about 6 months in her mission and is full of energy. I am so excited, this change is going to be really great. We´re going to baptize the world!

Guess what, the Athelete´s foot cream is working! So it seems that I have Athelete´s armpit, but it is getting much better. Mom, you were inspired when you made me bring that stuff. 

So, just a few milagros (miracles) that happened this week. First off, I found out today that a family that I found and taught in Los Mares almost a year ago got baptized yesterday! The familia Ortega Cuevas. It makes me super happy. They are going to make great members. 

I am pretty sure that I have told you about Nestor y Karen. This week we had a super awesome lesson with them, we watched the movie from the church that is super old, Together Forever. Then we taught about how we could have eternal families, but it is only if we do our part here on earth. We found out that the only reason that they are not married is because Karen is already married, but they have already done all of the papers for the divorce and everything, but for some reason the government hasn´t approved the divorce. We talked about fasting and we fasted with them this weekend. In the end of the lesson Karen prayed for the first time in a group. She started crying during her prayer and Nestor cried too, and okay I´ll admit it I was a little teary as well. It was just one of those experiences when my heart was full.

Nestor y Karen y su hija

Also, Guillermo commited to live the Law of Chastity. He has already talked to his girlfriend about it and even though she doesn´t like it and doesn´t really believe him he is completely happy living the law of chastity now. He is now ready for baptism, he will be baptized on the 23rd of September. He has to wait until the 23rd just because he has to work this Sunday.

So there is a family in our ward called the Familia Peña, they are both return missionaries and have two young daughters. Well Sister Peña´s dad is from Uruguay and came to visit for a few months. He has shared with the missionaries before when he was in Uruguay and had a dream that he got baptized. So now he is here living with his daughter. His daughter told him that while he is here he is not going to smoke, drink, or drink coffee and he accepted. He has gone to church twice and he really likes it, it is really funny because when we teach him he says things like "If I change to this church, I need to start doing this..." and things like that. He is really funny, this week in Gospel Principles class the lesson was on Family Responsabilities, after the class he leaned over and asked, "And what to I have to do to get married again?" Then the teacher announced that next week´s class is on Eternal Marriage. We told him that he could find the answer to his question in the next class. 

 

Familia Peña y su papa de Uruaguay

Next week is indepence day, 18 de Septiembre. But because the Chileans have decided that it super lame to celebrate on a Tuesday, they have announced that September 15-19 are all holidays. How funny is that? But it should be super awesome. 

Love you all!

Hermana Evans

Walker's Week #81

Hey guys whats up. So I had changes, I completely agree with Courtney about how much it sucks to change houses, I really hope I'm in my last one. So I am now in Porvenir. I guess its the smallest area in Central America, yep I've walked all the way across it three times already and I only have one day here. So my compnion is elder Blanquet which is cool because I was his District Leader when I was in Santa Ana and now were campanions.

So other significnt news there was a huge earth quake here last week. It ws amazing, I've never felt anything like it.

Other news Elder Ballard, Elder Christofferson, and President Eyring came to Costa Rica and had a meeting with us. It was pretty cool, yeah I got to shake hands with them all woot woot. So this meeting was so secret that after changes we all had to get on a bus with our bags and everything. And went to a place that nobody knew about. After that we got off the bus and went in to a Chaple and waited. So it was super awesome but after they just kind of said well find your own ways home. So here I am in the middle of nowhere with my three suitcases that are broken and have to find my way home. 

Well tell you more about my area next week.

Courtney's Week #74

Hola!

Just a question before I get started, Hunter, who is Evangeline? 

And Yes Dad, I would be happy to talk on the 21st. Are we going to have a huge party the night before with lots of Chilean food or something? That would be really cool...hint hint. Hermana Wilcock will be there!

So just an update on my armpit, it is not that bad. It doesn´t really pus that much or anything. But it is getting bigger. The doctor for the mission couldn´t figure out what it is so he wants to send me to another dermatoligist to get a shave biopsy and a culture done. They can´t figure out if it is bacteria or fungus. But, the problem is the mission can´t find a dermatologist available until the 26th of September. That is a very long time away, but oh well. I did have a thought though. So last night I was sorting through the bag of medicines and stuff that I brought with me from Utah and I found Athlete´s foot cream. I have never used it and so it was still sealed and everything, but I thought to myself, if I have a fungus this is bound to help. So, now I am putting Athlete´s foot cream on my armpit--we will see what happens with that. 

So, this week has been pretty good, Guillermo did not get baptized yesterday. He had to work, but he is still struggling a little bit to have the faith to drop his girlfriend. But we have set a new goal for this week. 

So we have an investigator called Karen, she is really receptive. She is living with a return missionary, Nestor, who went inactive for a little bit, they have a six month old daughter and now Nestor is trying to put his life in back in order. The first time that we passed by Karen told us that she likes what she has seen of the church because she had noted that when they say their prayers together as a family that there is a big differnce. Well, that was a couple weeks ago, and this week we invited her to pray and we found out that she has never ever prayed before. She told us that when they pray as a family that Nestor always offers the prayer. We were so shocked and surprised and we also felt a little bit silly that we didn´t even realize that she had never ever prayed before. But we are excited so that she can open this communication with her Heavenly Father. 

This next week we are going to have cambios. I am a little sad, but a little bit relieved also. I love Hermana Ruiz and I have learned a lot from this experience of training her, but I am excited to have a companion that is not so emotionally and physically exhuasting for me. But it has been a fantastic experience and a great opportunity to learn and grow, and also to help Hermana Ruiz in the best way that I can. This last week she ate pepperoni pizza for the first time in her life. She has had a ton of "first times" here in Chile and it has been great to help her with that. 

Love you all!

Hermana Evans