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

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.

It's Cold!

  My companion got a little too excited while we were housing this
week and tried to jump over a little garbage can as we were moving to
the next door... As he jumped up, he cleared the garbage can with
emasculate technique. But he didn't take account of the pottery that
was next to the garbage bin as he initiated takeoff, so he ended up
absolutely wrecking the nice vase sending pottery all over the patio
area of the apartment... No one was home, so we took a nice little
trip to the police station. 20 dollars later, we were free and the
people got a nice brand new vase to stick outside their house. It was
a good day. I want to have the same kind of fire and excitement that
Wilkinson choro has for sharing the gospel. I'll just be sure to not
take out anyone's property while I do so. (Pictures are attached)

  We also took a nice trip up to a place hidden in the mountains
called Tsuyama for a companionship exchange with them. Snow was on the
ground, so for the beginning of the day, we had to walk our bikes. I
was able to work with Elder Bellows! He is a 5th transfer, stud of a
missionary from North Carolina. It was fun to work with him for the
day and learn so much from him. I was really impressed at how much he
wants to be the best missionary he can. He wasn't afraid to talk to
anyone. We were able to see some miracles together, and I had a great
time.

  We also went up to Yonago this week for zone training meeting. The
zone leaders gave us some good training on how we can better study to
be able to help our investigators the best we can. We were a bit all
over the place with traveling this week, but we were able to find some
great people in our area on the days that we were home. In other news,
Hiroyuki was ordained to the office of a deacon yesterday and received
the priesthood!  Him and his mom are doing great, and really
progressing in the gospel. I love them so much.

  I've learned so much these last couple weeks, and I don't even know
how to sum it all up. It's been a little bit more of a challenge
lately, but nothing worth having comes easy. I know that these times
are going to help me in the long run. It's been a great learning
opportunity! I'm grateful for the love that Heavenly Father has for
each one of us. I've felt his love often this week, and I'm grateful
to be able to share that love with his children everyday. Thank you
all for your love and support. I love being a missionary.

I love you all more than Wilkinson choro loves Disneyland. ✨

Elder Evans


It was a really cold night!








The broken vase!

SNOW!

Splits with Kamae Choro from the Okayama ward

Konnichiwa!!

I can't believe another week has already passed. It's been such a week
of small, unexpected miracles. I love being a missionary. I'm having
the time of my life!

MIRACLE NUMBER 1:
I got a call from Bishop Baba earlier this week to let me know that a
American less active member that Deschamps choro, the bishop and I had
been working with was going to church again in a Ward up in Tokyo.
This brother that we were working with was struggling with the church
a little bit, but through transferring his records quickly  when he
moved to Tokyo from Okayama, the Bishop there was able to get in
contact with him and he decided to come back to church. The other
miracle inside this is that the brother moved into the only Ward in
Tokyo with an American bishop. WOOHOO! MIRACLES!!

MIRACLE NUMBER 2: We had splits with the zone leaders up in Yonago and
we made it home without freezing to death. (It was snowing the whole
time we were up there, with blizzard warnings.)

MIRACLE 3: While sitting on a packed bus on the way from Yonago, my
companion started up a conversation with the guy sitting next to him.
(He was sitting in the row in front of me.) They started talking about
the gospel and Wilkinson choro was awesome and doing his best to teach
the man about what we believe! He got stuck a little bit when talking
about the atonement, so I leaned forward in my seat and simply
explained what the atonement is. When I sat back in my seat again as
they continued, the lady that was sitting next to me looked at me and
said "are you Jesus Christ's missionaries?" I laughed about it a sec
and said, "Yes we sure are!"  She explained to me that she heard what
we were talking about when I explained the Atonement to the man in
front of me, and that she thought it was amazing. She said "I have
lots of interest in learning, can you teach me?" I was about blown
away. For the next hour of the bus ride, we talked about the
restoration, Book of Mormon, prayer, and the plan of salvation. She
had so many good questions and just kept asking for more. The coolest
part about this is that she lives in Matsue! (One of my last areas) So
I was able to explain to her where the church was, and exchange
information with her so that she can meet with the missionaries up
there. MIRACLE!!

There are about 10 more miracles that I could talk about from this
week, including going out to the middle of no where on splits with
kamae choro and finding lots of new people to teach, as well as
finding a great new investigator here in Okayama nishi. But I don't
want to bore you all with that, and this email is getting super long
anyways!

Lastly, On Wednesday we had a big conference where president Whiting
from the area presidency came and spoke to all of us. We talked a lot
about the spirit and how we need to learn how to follow it. One thing
that he said that really hit me is that "Heavenly Father cannot steer
a parked car."  We can't just sit and wait for answers to come to us.
We need to be actively searching and taking steps into the dark! The
Lord won't let us take too many steps in the wrong direction without
redirecting our path. But we need to show our faith and act in order
to receive answers.

After the conference, I was able to get interviewed by President
Whiting. It was such a spiritual experience. I could really feel the
love that he has for the savior, and the love he has for missionary
work. It was a great time to receive some one on one council from one
of the lords servants. He helped me to see more of a vision of what
kind of missionary I want to be, and how I can better help the Okayama
nishi Ward.


I love being a missionary, if you can't tell. I love having the
opportunity to teach about our Savior everyday, and learning more
about him. And I love the Okayama nishi Ward. I'm excited for the
miracles to come.

Sorry this is so long today! I love you all more than Wilkinson choro
loves airplanes! Stay warm!

Eruda Ebanzu


The Okayama District

Another week in Okayama

We got to go down to the ocean on Tuesday with some members to watch
the sunrise for the new year. As I sat up on the Japanese mountains
overlooking the ocean on one side, and Tamano city on the other side,
I was kind of just in shock at the amazing earth that God created.
Sitting up there helped build my testimony stronger of our Heavenly
Father. This world is a beautiful place. While we were watching the
sunrise, The member that we went with kept me nice and busy. He
contacted 4 different people and invited them to hear the lessons. I
was so impressed!!

Yesterday we went with the Bishop to visit sister Yamakawa, the less
active lady who Korth choro and I housed into a couple months ago! It
was one of the most spiritual lessons I have been apart of. It was
also fun to work with Bishop Baba and hear his testimony of the
gospel. We were able to read Alma 32 and really talk about faith. It
was so amazing to see when she finally got it. She lit up, sat back in
her chair, and said "I got it! I got it!". - I love being a
missionary.

In church yesterday, 2 scriptures were shared that really hit me hard.
They were D&C 19:16-19 and John 3:16. We are so blessed!! Every single
person on this earth has access to the atonement. And Christ did it so
willingly because he loves each and every single one of us. As I sat
in that lesson at church, I felt a part of the love that Christ has
for us. I want to share that love with everyone! The Ward members here
in Okayama are starting to get the vision, and I'm loving working with
all of them.

Anyways we are out of time!! I love you all and hope you are all doing well!

Until next week!
Elder Evans

Okayama Nishi, Round 4

Happy New Years!!

I can't believe 2017 is already here! I've been so grateful for this
past full year of missionary work. It has influenced my life, and my
testimony more than I can comprehend.  In this past year, I have
served in 4 different areas with 8 different companions, all of who
have helped me grow and push myself everyday. I am so grateful for all
of the people I have met this past year, and I'm looking forward to
what is coming this new year!

This past week was transfer week! Both Deschamps choro and lazenby
choro got transferred to the other side of the mission, which means
that I stayed in Okayama nishi for a 4th transfer! I absolutely loved
working with Deschamps choro and lazenby choro. I learned so much from
them, and they became family to me. Working with them was definitely a
highlight of my mission. They will kill it in their new areas! My new
companion is Elder Wilkinson from Sandy, Utah. His dad also served
here in Okayama back before the dinosaurs roamed the earth, so he has
been so excited to see everything here, and so excited to meet
everyone. We are both so lucky to be serving where are dads served.

  It's been fun seeing the changes that have taken place this past
week with the new bishopric! One day as we sat in bishop baba's office
talking about specific people that we should work with, he stopped and
looked at us and thanked us for our service as missionaries and for
deciding to come on a mission. He really helped us to know that we are
loved and that our work doesn't go unnoticed. I love this Ward, I love
Japan, and I love serving the Lord everyday. And I'm grateful for
another round here in the Okayama nishi Ward!!

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and warm! Thank you for all that you do!!

Elder Evans