Well, today's story starts back on last p day when we got lost inkyoto. (You always meet the best people when you get lost.) We didn'tknow which train station we needed to go to to get where we wanted, sowe asked the girl that was sitting next to us. She helped us out andthen 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 Yuyakun(one of our investigators) and invited him to church. He was waynice and said that he would be there. We were so excited to have himcome, so on Sunday we waited at the door of the church for him to getthere. While we were waiting for him, Yuna (the girl that came toEnglish class) walked into the church. We were all really surprisedthat she came because none of us had invited her to church. It was acool miracle.Soon after she got there, sacrament meeting started so we went in. Butyuya kun had yet to show up. We were a bit disappointed. The otherelders had a lesson with Yuna after sacrament meeting and they askedher why she came. She said "well you guys texted me and invited me soI decided, why not!" The other elders were really confused becausethey hadn't texted her, and they didn't even have her number. Afterfurther investigation we found out that when I texted who I thoughtwas YUYA, it was actually YUNA! When Yuna called about English classlast 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 inShimogamo, and interviews right after. We were able to find moreinvestigators 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
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 calledOtsu. It's absolutely beautiful! My companion just got here from theMTC and he is an absolute stud. His name is elder soares and he isstraight from Brazil! We live here in otsu with two other elders, oneof which is American and the other is also from Brazil. Our districtup here includes 8 elders, 5 of which are from Brazil, and 3 of usAmericans. I guess I better start learning some Portuguese!This week has been a rollercoaster. Lots of goodbyes to friends inOkayama, and lots of hellos to knew faces here in otsu. It was hardsaying goodbye to all the people that I grew so attached to inOkayama, but I am also so excited for what's to come here in this newarea. My companion and I got into the area late Thursday evening. Wewent straight to the church and had a game night. The next day, wewent and got my companion his bike and a couple things he needed tostay warm because it was snowing like crazy. Then we got out to workand my companion had his first experience with housing and streeting.Since we both don't know the area, it's a perfect opportunity to getlost everyday and meet lots of cool people. When we left to go to anappointment after housing a for a while, my companion rode next to meand said "Evans choro, I love being a missionary and I love mymission." It was straight out of no where. After just getting hundredsof doors slammed in our faces, I was feeling a little down because Iwanted to give him the perfect finding experience, but this was theresponse 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 havingcompanionship study in a little cafe. With the new schedule, we do ourstudy whenever the time works best throughout the day. As we weresitting there talking, a 23 year old guy that was sitting next to usleaned over and said, in perfect English "hey are you guysmissionaries? I have been to church before and I want to know more." Ialmost laughed because I was so surprised. We had a great talk withhim and Soares choro gave out his first Book of Mormon! The guys nameis Toshi and he is coming to church next week, so we are super excitedfor that. That same day, us and the other otsu elders decided to worktogether to house an 11 floor apartment building. As we knocked on thefirst door, i asked (through their intercom) if we could share amessage with them in their doorway. The guy said "yeah I'll be rightthere!" We ended up finding out that this man has met withmissionaries in the past and wants to keep learning. It was anotherfun miracle.I am so excited for this transfer and for the miracles that we willsee here. Soares choro is the man, and is already leading some of ourcontacts. I'm so excited to work with him in this new area. I love youall! Have a good week!Elder Evans