Thursday, February 23, 2017

Yuya-Kun


Well, today's story starts back on last p day when we got lost in
kyoto. (You always meet the best people when you get lost.) We didn't
know which train station we needed to go to to get where we wanted, so
we asked the girl that was sitting next to us. She helped us out and
then we gave her an English class flyer. That Wednesday she called me
(because our phone number is on the flyer) and asked about the class,
and then came. Her name is yuna. It was pretty cool.

On Saturday, I went through the phone and texted a kid named Yuya
kun(one of our investigators) and invited him to church. He was way
nice and said that he would be there. We were so excited to have him
come, so on Sunday we waited at the door of the church for him to get
there. While we were waiting for him, Yuna (the girl that came to
English class) walked into the church. We were all really surprised
that she came because none of us had invited her to church. It was a
cool miracle.

Soon after she got there, sacrament meeting started so we went in. But
yuya kun had yet to show up. We were a bit disappointed. The other
elders had a lesson with Yuna after sacrament meeting and they asked
her why she came. She said "well you guys texted me and invited me so
I decided, why not!" The other elders were really confused because
they hadn't texted her, and they didn't even have her number. After
further investigation we found out that when I texted who I thought
was YUYA, it was actually YUNA! When Yuna called about English class
last week, I saved her number in my phone, but I spelled it Yuya.
Whoops! But Yuna absolutely loved church and wants to come every week.
It's funny how miracles work sometimes.

Other than that, this week was good! We had zone conference in
Shimogamo, and interviews right after. We were able to find more
investigators this week, and we are excited to get working with them.
Otsu is great! I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Elder Evans






Monday, February 13, 2017

Ola Pessoal!



Like I said last time I transferred, when I transfer, I transfer far.
I'm back on the other side of the mission again in an area called
Otsu. It's absolutely beautiful! My companion just got here from the
MTC and he is an absolute stud. His name is elder soares and he is
straight from Brazil! We live here in otsu with two other elders, one
of which is American and the other is also from Brazil. Our district
up here includes 8 elders, 5 of which are from Brazil, and 3 of us
Americans. I guess I better start learning some Portuguese!

This week has been a rollercoaster. Lots of goodbyes to friends in
Okayama, and lots of hellos to knew faces here in otsu. It was hard
saying goodbye to all the people that I grew so attached to in
Okayama, but I am also so excited for what's to come here in this new
area. My companion and I got into the area late Thursday evening. We
went straight to the church and had a game night. The next day, we
went and got my companion his bike and a couple things he needed to
stay warm because it was snowing like crazy. Then we got out to work
and my companion had his first experience with housing and streeting.
Since we both don't know the area, it's a perfect opportunity to get
lost everyday and meet lots of cool people. When we left to go to an
appointment after housing a for a while, my companion rode next to me
and said "Evans choro, I love being a missionary and I love my
mission." It was straight out of no where. After just getting hundreds
of doors slammed in our faces, I was feeling a little down because I
wanted to give him the perfect finding experience, but this was the
response of Elder Soares. - I didn't even know how to respond to him.
That experience taught me a very valuable lesson.

Another cool experience this week was when we were having
companionship study in a little cafe. With the new schedule, we do our
study whenever the time works best throughout the day. As we were
sitting there talking, a 23 year old guy that was sitting next to us
leaned over and said, in perfect English "hey are you guys
missionaries? I have been to church before and I want to know more." I
almost laughed because I was so surprised. We had a great talk with
him and Soares choro gave out his first Book of Mormon! The guys name
is Toshi and he is coming to church next week, so we are super excited
for that. That same day, us and the other otsu elders decided to work
together to house an 11 floor apartment building. As we knocked on the
first door, i asked (through their intercom) if we could share a
message with them in their doorway. The guy said "yeah I'll be right
there!" We ended up finding out that this man has met with
missionaries in the past and wants to keep learning. It was another
fun miracle.

I am so excited for this transfer and for the miracles that we will
see here. Soares choro is the man, and is already leading some of our
contacts. I'm so excited to work with him in this new area. I love you
all! Have a good week!

Elder Evans












Sunday, February 5, 2017

Hiroyuki


The Baba Family

 Yesterday in church, Hiroyuki passed the sacrament for the first
time and it was one of the coolest experiences that I have had on my
mission. He also was able to go to the Fukuoka temple with the young
men for the first time on Friday. THE GOSPEL IS SO AWESOME!! Jessica
was super jealous that she couldn't go with him because she had work.
But they are both working together to be able to be sealed in the
temple. I love them so much.

  This last week we went up to Yonago again to do splits with the
zone leaders. I worked with elder Tanaka and had a great time. Tanaka
choro actually got hit by a car a month or so ago and broke his collar
bone, so for splits we were walking the whole time. It was kind of
hard to go to appointments without bikes, but it gave us a good
opportunity to find new investigators throughout the day.

    I've absolutely loved working here in Okayama. The members and the
investigators that I have been able to work with have changed my life.
It's been amazing to see all of us grow so much through using the
atonement and repentance. I know that repentance isn't just something
we do when we do something wrong, but we can use it daily to
strengthen ourselves and become more like Christ. It's been a blessing
to watch the atonement in action here in Okayama.


I love you all more than Wilkinson choro loves Pizza!

Elder Evans


Japan Understands!

Zone training meeting in Okayama

Mount Daisen up in Yonago.

A few pictures from last week (he only sent pictures, no letter last week)




We made friends with a track team.




This is our friend Tomo.