Monday, March 27, 2017

Shimogamo Part 1


              On a morning run!

Konnichiwa!

At church yesterday we had 24 visitors of whom 95% of them were from
America. It's a different atmosphere here in Kyoto but I love it. Lots
of culture, lots of foreigners, and lots of fun. The transfer last
week was by far the easiest transfer that I have done on my mission.
Usually when I transfer, I head to the other side of the mission. This
time it was a 2 dollar, 15 minute train ride. Pretty easy.

We met with a friend for the first time this week named Ota. He is
about 60 years old and is stuck at a fork in the road with what he
wants to do with his life. He stopped some of the missionaries in our
zone when they were on their way to our area and told them that he
wanted to meet with missionaries. We had a great meeting for the first
time with him on Saturday, and he then came to church on Sunday. The
Americans that came to church came to say hi to him after sacrament
meeting. They couldn't communicate with him, but he could feel their
love. They gave him an English version of the Book of Mormon and he
was so happy. It was cool to see fellowshipping on action.

One of the first nights here in Shimogamo we met with a member family
because their 7 year old boy is preparing to be baptized soon. That
family had some of the cutest kids I've ever met. The 7 year old boy
said something that I thought was awesome when one of the sister
missionaries asked him if he believes that god is there. He said:
"When I was little, I didn't believe God exists, but now that I have
learned about him, I believe that he is there." He taught me a lesson
on faith during that meeting, and I am really grateful for that. The
kids in Shimogamo are my favorite.

Well we are going to eat some good food. Have a good week!

Much love from Kyoto,
Elder Evans


6am run every day

Monday, March 20, 2017

13th Transfer



Well, the time in otsu was short. I'll be heading to the area next
door on Thursday with an elder that I've only worked with more than
anyone on my mission. The Vui and Evans team is being reunited. Yes...
that's right folks, This will be Elder Vui and I's 4th transfer, and
3rd area together.
We will now work together in Matsue, Nara, and Shimogamo. The mission
just keeps getting more interesting. I'm excited to work with Vui
choro, yet again.

This past week was great. We were out of the area a lot at meetings,
and on splits. We started the week in Kobe and TTTM, which translates
to Trainer Trainee Training Meeting. That's a lot of trains... TTTM
was great! I learned so much and had a great time. On Thursday and
Friday we were in omihachiman on companionship exchanges with the
elders over there. On Thursday I worked with Elder Salas, and it went
great. On Friday I worked with Elder Luciano who is also from Brazil,
and it was a total blast. It was a great time.

I was reading the Bible this week and came across a scripture in 1
john 4:18-19. Go take a look at them. You won't regret it!

I love you all so much! I'm excited for this next adventure in Shimogamo!

Love you all more than bodily choro loves Brazilian food.

Elder Evans





Monday, March 13, 2017

Biwako ichi



Today we woke up super early and decided to take on the challenge of
riding 200 kilometers around Lake Biwa, which happens to be the
biggest lake in Japan. I wasn't planning on sending an email today
because we expected to be biking all day. When we got out just over
half way (about 120 kilometers), one of the elders knees wasn't
feeling to well, so we decided to play it safe and take a 15 dollar
train ride home... 2 of us went back, and the other two are still out
there going strong.

This week I would like to ask for some special prayers for one of our
20 year old investigators named Akari. This is the last week that she
will be able to meet with us and come to church because starting next
week, her parents are not letting her come to church. Please pray for
her to see a miracle at the end of this week when she bears her
testimony to her parents!

Other than that, nothing else is too new here in otsu! Still
practicing my Portuguese, and loving every minute of being a
missionary. There is no other place I would rather be. Japan is the
best.

Also a quick congrats to Andrew on his wedding this past week, and
also Dakota on hers!


Love you all more than the amount of money that soares choro spends
every week buying chips.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

March 13, 2017


Splits with Elder Nohagi


Do you remember that lake that
we have in my area? Well, me, the other elder in my apartment, and 2
of the elders in the area next to us have decided to bike all the way
around it. That translates to about 200 kilometers. Pretty dang far!
It's going to take us all day, so I don't think I will be able to
write my weekly email or any other emails today. So I'm writing this
for you guys to know that I am still alive and doing well.
This week was pretty good. Not too many highlights though. I'm trying
to even think of anything to tell you haha. Ohhh yeah I went on splits
with elder nohagi in Shimogamo. It was an absolute blast. He is one of
the nicest, most sincere people I have ever met. He is from Japan but
he lived in Utah for a year and studied a lot of English so he is
pretty much fluent. It's fun to learn Japanese from him, and it was
good to work with him for a day. I also went on splits with an elder
in my district and we talked to about 20 people about church and then
also passed out 1,500 flyers and 6 Book of Mormons is one day. It was
a good day and we worked really hard. This is the last week of the
transfer so next week will be transfers calls. I'm pretty sure that my
companion and I will stay so that I can finish up his training. He is
doing well. He is a great kid and it's fun to work with him. His
birthday is next Tuesday, and he will be 20.

Oh this week we also had zone training meeting in Kyoto. I did the
translation from English to Japanese and holy cow my head hurt so bad
after. I didn't know that 2-3 hours of translating would be so tiring.
Translating From English to Japanese was definitely a challenge. But
it helped me to know what parts of my Japanese I can improve and it
also helped me to know that I have learned a little bit of Japanese.
There were definitely some parts that I struggled through, but for the
most part it went good. I hope those poor Japanese people understood
haha.

Oh and last p day I went back to Nara. It was way fun to see some of
the people I worked with while I was there. And also to go be a
tourist through the history for a day. It was so fun and super weird
to be back in an area with so many memories.

Other than that, tell Andrew and Sam congrats on the wedding. It looked like a
great time. Thank you for sending all the pictures as well. It was fun
to see everyone again! And it was fun to see the boys all dressed up
with him. Also tell Dakota and her husband congrats on
the wedding as well! They look really happy and it seems like it was a
good time. Pretty exciting!

Anyways, I think that's all I have to talk about this week. I tried to
attach a bunch of pictures down at the bottom for you to see.
Hopefully there will be more from the bike ride today as well. 
Have a great week, and tell the boys that I love them
all. As well as tell Eric and josh happy birthday for me again. It
looked like you guys had a great day!!

Elder Evans


Zone Training meeting - Kyoto Zone

A random Famous river in the middle of the city of Kyoto

On splits with Elder Bodily

Gave a kid a book of mormon

Last p-day when we went back to Nara.
It was so fun going back to one of my last areas.

Last p-day in Nara

The Next pictures are from the bike ride that he is on now.
















Sunday, March 5, 2017

I'm in Brazil!



Props to my companion who was called as a "Portuguese speaking
missionary", who is in Japan, who has an American companion. The dude
has 3 languages that he is switching back and forth in.  He is such a
stud.

I contacted my first Brazilian this week in Portuguese and boy was I
scared to death. I've been practicing my Portuguese with the two
Brazilians in the apartment and the chance came to use it when a
Brazilian lady got on the train with us. The two elders told me to go
talk to her, so I walked up to her, scared out of my mind. the contact
went something like this:
Me: Hello! How are you?
Her: (very confused) I'm fine?
Me: I don't speak Portuguese, but my friend does!
That's when I realized that she actually spoke Portuguese and I
couldn't understand a word she just had said to me, I panicked and
looked at the other elders and said "HELP ME!" And then I just stood
behind them and smiled while they talked to her. It was quite the
accomplishment. I'm grateful for octaviano choro and Soares choro who
push me to do scary things. We have another appointment next week with
her and her husband! Woohoo! Go Brazilians!!

We also ate pig ears, feet, and other body parts while visiting a
Brazilian less active family this week. I wasn't too big of a fan of
the feet, but the ears were good!

This week was good! I had the time of my life teaching people about
Jesus and working with members. Lots of fun memories and lots of good
things to come here in otsu.

By the way, happy birthday to Eric and Josh! 18 years old now which
means 18 birthday punches. (If someone could do those for me, I would
greatly appreciate it) Stay out of trouble punks!!

I love you all and hope you have a good week this week.

Elder Evans





Wednesday, March 1, 2017

The Return of Elder Vui!


Ohashi family dinner

Its been 6 months since I have worked with Elder Vui, and it was just
TOO long so we transferred to the same zone and now are working
together again. This past week we were able to work in his area called
Shimogamo, and man... it was a great time. We reminisced on the good
old days back in Matsue and Nara, caught up, and saw more miracles. It
amazed me on how far both of us have come since we worked together,
but again on how we are still the same people. I'm grateful for
friends like him.

I was on splits with Elder Octaviano this past week and we stopped
some guy walking down the street and started to talk to him. In the
end, we asked if we could meet with him again and he told us that he
was really busy and wouldn't be able to, but if we have a book about
Christ, kind of like a bible, he would absolutely want one. We
literally laughed and he ended up walking away with a Book of Mormon
in his hands. -Right before that, a guy stopped US while we were
riding our bikes down the street, and asked if we could come up to his
room and share a message with him. Man I love being a missionary.

We have an investigator named Akari who is an absolute beast. She is
20 years old and has been coming to church since November and was
planning on getting baptized, but her parents said she can't and they
made her stop coming to church for a while. Over a couple week period,
she passed notes back and forth with her dad to get permission to come
back to church. They have agreed to let her come until April when
school starts back up. -Yesterday in Sunday school, we were talking
about things that are the most important to us. One by one we went
through the class and shared ours. There were some good ones like
family, pictures, basketball (smart person), work, their kids... and
then it came to akari and her answer stuck hard. She said "this time
that I have to come to church." I'm grateful for people like akari and
their example and faith.

In other news, in last weeks email I talked about a girl named Yuna
and how she came to church. Well, she came back to church this week,
and the other elders had a lesson with her. She has accepted to be
baptized when she comes home from her trip next month. It's pretty
funny how miracles work. I'm excited for what's to come here in Otsu.

I love you all more than Soares Choro loves anime! ✨(That's a lot, trust me)

Elder Evans




Back working with Vui Choro in Shimogamo

The Guy on the street that asked for the book about Christ