March 30, 2015

Hey Y'all!
Hello! I'm so sorry G-MA to hear about Uncle Gary.. I know he is in a better place! Thanks so much for the emails and pictures! Congrats Kyal on your call, you'll be a great missionary! 

This week we started off the week by having interviews with President Heap. I have a lot of love and respect for my mission president and his wife! I know that they have been called of God! I received a lot of great counsel and advice from President this week and learned a lot from his strong testimony! 

L invited her best friend to start taking the discussions, and so now we are teaching the both of them and they are planning to be baptized on the same day later in the month! It's so neat to see an investigator do missionary work and have such a strong desire to share with their friends and loved ones what they are learning and what resinates with their souls! They are both very strong spirits and are so teachable! 

Sister Udall and I have made it a goal to always be prepared for whatever comes our way! This week (bike day)... except we chose to walk :) we handed out all of our copies of the Book of Mormon, so we decided to run home and back before our next lesson to get a few more copies! 18 blocks in less than a 1/2 hour! We were speedy quick! 

Timmell gave both of us a priesthood blessing this week and WOW! The power of the Priesthood is real! He just received his patriarchal blessing and has decided that he is going to serve a mission! It's so neat to see Recent Converts have such a strong desire to serve the Lord with all of their heart, might, mind, and strength! 

The General Women's Broadcast was soooo good! Did ya watch it!? I loved how the emphasis was placed on being united as ONE as God's children and the importance of making and keeping our baptism and temple covenants! Our recent convert, J passed the sacrament for the 1st time yesterday! 

This week we have so much going on! We have zone conference tomorrow, GENERAL CONFERENCE, and exchanges! I love this work! I hope y'all have a happy Easter! Don't forget to watch the new video!! HeLives.mormon.org

#BecauseHeLives

Love, 

Sister Evans 

March 23, 2015

Hey Y'all!
Hello!! Thanks y'all for the emails and pictures! Ya made my day! Last Monday, Allison and Timmell (Relief Society President and Branch Mission Leader) took us to Palo Duro Canyon for P-Day and we had a good ol' time! They are some of my very best friends! Good people here in Texas! They went on a date to the nearest Cheesecake Factory in Oklahoma City an brought us a slice of cheesecake back!! Talk about feeling loved! They also came out with us this week to Amarillo to do some rescue visits for the less active members that we are trying to reach out to. 

We had a great Zone Training this week where we learned about using our Agency and I learned a lot! D&C 101:78

This next week, we are supposed to have a Zone Conference with President and Sister Heap, so I am really looking forward to that :) 

L & C are both doing great! They both have such a strong desire to come closer to Christ! I love teaching them! We finally were able to make contact with S after a solid month of no contact! She is the sweet girl who came on the temple trip with our branch last month! 

We will be meeting with her this week and continuing teaching her from where we left off! 

We went to the temple this week with our branch and had the opportunity to do baptisms for the dead. Macey, have you been yet? Go this week! Spring break is the perfect time to go to the House of the Lord.. and prepare yourself for General Conference!! YAY! 

I love y'all so much and hope that you have a great week :) 

Love, 

Sister Evans 

This is Allison (RS President) and Timmell (Branch Mission Leader)

I LOVE THEM!

 Allison & I   :)

 Sister Dale made us these awesome headbands for St. Patty's Day  :)

Palo Duro Canyon with Allison and Timmell

March 16, 2015

Come What May, and Love it...

Hey y'all! I'm so happy to hear from all of you today! Thanks for thinking of me! This week has been .... CRAZY! I'll explain why here in just a second :) 

I LOVED my "Happy Halfway" package!! Thank you so much! I can't believe that I have completed half of my mission already! Time is flying by for me! We were able to teach our new referral, C a couple of times this week and she is doing great! Also, we met with L this week too and she is loving the things that we are teaching her... so much that she is telling her friends about what we have taught her and now they want to learn too! SO COOL! 

On Thursday, we had a really great spirit-led day of finding on campus (this week is Spring Break, so we took advantage of the nice weather and the last couple of days of having a full campus of our brothers and sisters who need the gospel so desperately in their lives!) Talk about a successful day!! ... then we came into our apartment for the night and BOOM! Satan had to put a damper on our day! We walked into our apartment and the carpet and entryway were sopping wet (and smelly!) We opened up the closet door where it was coming from and to our unpleasant surprise, SEWAGE EXPLOSION! EVERYWHERE! It was awful!! We called the emergency maintenance guy for our apartment complex and he and a couple of other people worked on it for who knows how long!? We weren't able to stay there for the night (nor did we want to!!), so we called Sister Heap and she gave us permission to stay with our Relief Society President (my bff: Allison Priest) since the next closest set of sisters was an hour and a half away and it was already past 10pm! So, we stayed in Allison's room at her Sorority House hahaha how many missionaries can and ever will say that they stayed at a Sorority House on their mission!? All of the other girls had already left for Spring Break, so it was an empty house.. but still! Pretty funny! We are staying in a temporary apartment for the week until they figure out the cleanup details :) Gotta love living straight out of a suitcase! 

Anywho- our focus for the week has been teaching others about the Book of Mormon! I LOVE THAT BOOK! My testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened this week as I have taught others about it! This week I made a comparison that I really like as Sister Udall and I were studying: The Bible is like a map on the wall and the Book of Mormon is MapQuest that shows us the details and how to get from point A to point B! Just think about it :) They both have a vital purpose but are there to support and strengthen one another! I love y'all so much and hope this week is great! Alma 29:9 

Love, 

Sister Evans 

(I loved this picture book!! Thanks so much!) 

 We baked Cammi a German Chocolate Cake-her favorite!

 We are looking a little rough here-no shower! Our Temporary Apartment

March 9, 2015

9 Months Down! 9 to Go!

Hey y'all!! Thanks so much for the emails and pictures! Macey- congrats on 1st place at the dance competition! So proud of you- continue to work hard!! 

We had transfer calls this last weekend and I will be staying here in Canyon for at least another 6 weeks- training Sister Udall! Yay! I love serving here! We have about 30 sister missionaries from the TLM going home this week and only 2 new missionaries are coming out- resulting in A LOT of closed areas! I am so glad I get to stay here! 

We had a great week... probably one of the fastest weeks of my mission! We learned more about the Atonement this week in our District Meeting and it was so good! I love the scripture Alma 19:23- We shouldn't blend in with the world! We must change the desires of our hearts and never return to our old ways... but it is only possible through our Savior and by applying his Atonement into our lives each and every day! 

We had a really busy week with back-to-back teaching appointments! (Those are my FAV days!) We taught a couple of new investigators- L who is so prepared! She lost both of her parents and we shared with her the Plan of Salvation... or the Plan of HAPPINESS :) She loved it and said she would like to be baptized! We also taught a girl who lost her dad within the past few years, A and she is a really sweet girl! We received a referral from a member in Oklahoma this week- she asked us to teach her step-sister, C. The lesson went great and she has committed to baptism for a date later this month :) 

We have been focusing a lot on Less- Active work here... it's so sad to see how many young people fall away from the church, especially returned missionaries because they haven't been 100% truly converted! Just because we gain a testimony of the gospel at one point of our lives, doesn't mean that it will be there forever! We must WORK at it every single day!! CPR! (church, pray, read). Justin McKenzie received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday at church! It was so neat to see Timmell (Recent Convert- baptized last March) baptize Justin and confer the priesthood upon him! So So So cool!! Great things are happening here :) I have a testimony and a love for this work. I love y'all and hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Evans 

(Amarillo is famous for their quarter horses! 'MERICA!) 

 Freezing Spinach=FAIL

March 2, 2015

Merry Christmas!  I mean...Happy March!

Hey y'all! It's been a snowy/icy COLD week! I hope it has been a bit warmer back home! 

This week, Sister Udall and I have been praying and searching for unseen service opportunities! As we were driving home for the night, we saw this older man in the distance carrying groceries and it was a really cold and icy night, so I parked the car and we went running after him to see if we could help. His name is Tracee and he is a really cool guy! He must be very close to the spirit, because he told us that in his morning prayer, God told him that 2 people would stop and talk to him that day about Jesus! It was really neat! 

This week we have really been focusing on working with Less Active members- which has been really good! Our week of less active work resulted in 2 proposals! hahaha I don't understand why my marital status has been the big question mark of the week!? I don't want to marry y'all!  :) 

We are working with a less active right now named C! I know that I am here to help certain people and she is definitely one of them! It's crazy to see how Heavenly Father puts certain trials and challenges in our lives, so that we can help others who are going through similar things with them! 

We were able to visit the Horn Family this week (the former branch president and his wife) I LOVE them!! Mom, Sister Horn gave me a giant tub of Spanish rice!! I was so pumped, you would have thought I won the lottery!! :) I love Texas! I love being here as a representative of Jesus Christ. I love this gospel and my brothers and sisters that are here in Canyon and Amarillo! I hope y'all are doing well and have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Evans