June 29, 2015

Hello!

Hey!! Thanks for the emails today! Haha- Mom I'm not going to lie.. I laughed when you said that it's HOT and it's only like 100! I feel like I'm (kind of) adapting to the TEXAS and NEW MEXICO heat!! haha. 

Anywho... I was sick all week... yay! Worst cold of my life- my bottle of Nyquil was my bff haha but it didn't stop the work at all! We were constantly on-the-go this week! I think we filled up on gas like 5X this week! We cover a LOT of ground! We had interviews this week with President Heap- we talked about release dates...weird... and I'll update you on that in my letter home today. 

We had a cool experience earlier in the week- we were talking to a man in the park who is an employee at one of the hotels here in Dalhart. He told us that he just put copies of the Bible in the rooms and so we taught him about the Book of Mormon and how it is a companion volume to the Bible! He agreed to put the B.O.M. in all the rooms! Woot woot! Talk about floodin' the earth with the fullness of the gospel!! I'm pumped about it! :) 

We went to Tucumcari this week and taught a referral! She met with missionaries a couple years ago and continues to read the Book of Mormon everyday! She has been through so many difficult trials in her life but knows that the church is true! I know she will be baptized in the near future!... Most prepared human of life!!! We went to the TUC branch for church yesterday- oh boy! We've got to get some young folks in there! The branch is going to die off!! haha. 

We are working with a lot of life-time less-active families right now... I have learned the importance of being ACTIVE in church for the rest of my life on my mission! It affects generations!! Elder Holland said, "This is the call of the gospel message to...everyone... in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generations who must follow you, and we will help each other be strong to the very end."

I love y'all! Have a great week

Love,

Sister Evans

June 22, 2015

Hey Y'all!!!

Well howdy there!! Thanks so much for the Father's Day pictures!! I love your new lawn mower, Grandpa! :) hahaha- you even look great mowing the lawn in a suit! I hope you had a good day yesterday too, Dad! I was thinking about you all day! I sure do love and miss you! 

This week was jam packed with great things! It was another quick week for me.. we started off the week with Zone Training where we learned the "why of the why" we have commandments. I have a testimony that the commandments that we have been given by the Lord are truly to "free" us, not "restrict" us! Then we drove on Wednesday to TUCUMCARI, NM and it was so fun!! The elders that were serving there did a really good job with the people that they were working with, so we were able to just go and teach all day long! I loved it!  We taught a really cool part-member family! They are the cutest young couple ever and have a son that is 2 years old! Such a great family! The mom will be baptized in July :) 

We stayed the night in Tuc with the cutest member ever, Sister Stallcup who is in her 80's! She is the sweetest lady ever- I'm excited to go back this week! We have a ton of reactiving work to do there :) This week we have interviews with President Heap- I'm pumped about it! It's going to be a great week- I love y'all! Have a good one :)

XOXO

Sister Evans

June 15, 2015

TUCHART!

Hey y'all! Thanks for the pictures! Yay Kyal!! The temple looked like pure bliss! I loved your engagement pictures Jade!! I'm still sad I wont be there, but I loved the pictures so thank you! 

Well, this week flew by! We found out that we are for sure covering another area- Tucumcari, New Mexico!! We are both really excited about it, but it's also pretty stressful trying to run 2 areas!! This is what our workload consists of:

-learning another language, -covering about 12 towns, -15-25,000 people who NEED to hear our message, -3 hour range of area, - the only missionaries in this part of the mission.

IT's CRAZY! But I'm happy to be a part of the Lord's work! It's an adventure everyday! 

This week I hit my year mark! Time really is flying by quickly! I have learned SO much this year- I feel like the same person, but my testimony has been strengthened so much that I feel like I have completely changed! I love this work and the Savior more than I could ever even comprehend before. Lately, I've been studying the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church Books- I am now reading about President Kimball during my lunch and dinner breaks! Holy Moly!! Y'all need to pick up those books! So good!!

Well.. the work is going great! We have zone training tomorrow, Tucumcari day on Wednesday, Clayton day on Friday, and then we have exchanges and interviews next week! All good things :)

I love y'all! Have a great week!!

Love, Sister Evans

June 8, 2015

Hey Y'All!!!

HELLO! Thanks for all of the emails- mom, I really hope the doctors figure out what else is wrong with your back!! I'm am so HAPPY for you, Riley Jo! The blessings of the temple are so wonderful!! I got Kyal's graduation/mission announcement in the mail this week :) I haven't heard anything in the last year from them, so I was super excited! I'm excited to see how Jade and Mel's engagements turn out! 

This week in TEXAS was great! It's starting to get HOT, HOT, HOT!! We spent the week trying to re-bulid our teaching pool- we found so many neat people to start working with! The members are also really pumped up about missionary work, so that makes the work interesting and fun! We taught a lesson this week and immediately after, Sister Ludwinski and I looked at each other and the spirit led us to Hartley, an outlying area. We went and tried the part-member family that we wanted to visit, but they weren't home. We decided to try another family there so as we were parking in front of another house, a girl ran outside and saw us there and called for her dad. He invited us right in- apparently he's from SLC and has family members that are Mormon! We taught the family and they are so solid!! 

G received the Gift of the Holy Ghost this week! It was so special :) This week I studied a lot about the Savior's atonement! I am so grateful for the sacrifice that he made for each of us! I love being a missionary and I love how much I am learning every single day! What a blessing my mission has been! I can't believe I am hitting my year mark this week! It's nuts!! Thank you for all of your love and support! I love y'all! Have a great week :)

Love,

Sister Evans

June 1, 2015

Hey Y'all!! 

Happy JUNE! What in the world?! How is it June already? Thank you so much for all of the emails and pictures! 

This was a quick week for us, but definitely eventful :) We started off the week by driving to Clayton, NM to teach G and on the way back, we took pictures by the "Welcome to Texas" sign and then got back on the road. Shortly after, I looked in the side mirror and saw red and blue lights coming up on us and said, "Sister Ludwinski, I'm pretty sure you are getting pulled over!" hahaha... That's right! We got stopped by a Texas State Trooper for going like 6 or 7 over- all is well, she got off with a warning! 

We taught M and C this week who are returning less-actives and we felt so strongly that we needed to teach them the Plan of Salvation. The only problem? We don't have a strong enough vocabulary to teach that lesson in Español!! We ended up teaching and reading straight out of Preach my Gospel! I'm so grateful for that missionary manual! 

We also did some service this week with Sister Baumert at her bakery, the Sugar Shack! We rolled and baked sugar cookies! Best service ever! Sister Ludwinski and I will be staying together for this next transfer! So that will be really good :) Rumor has it that we might be covering another outlying town in New Mexico called Tucumcari, because they just barely shut down the area and the place is still hoppin' with people who are prepared and ready for the restored gospel! I hope that we get to cover it! 

G was baptized this week! It was such a sweet and spiritual baptism! She and her dad had been waiting for 3 years for her to be baptized! The Lord always prepares a way! We also had a new Branch Presidency put into the Dalhart Branch! President Baumert was released after 12 years of service as the branch president, and now it is President Wright (the family who let us call/Skype from their home on Mother's Day!) I love them! There are so many wonderful people here! The work is moving forward and it's so rewarding to be a part of the Lord hastening his work! Thanks for all of the love and support y'all send my way! Have a great week :)

Love,

Sister Evans