hello family!
so another great week here in Wembley! we have a new family that we found. Her name is chantal and has 5 kids. im way excited to teach her. Also we have an investigator whose name is Alcide. He has been extra hard to get in touch with but we finnaly got in his house this past week. way nice guy and appeared to be normal. As we conversed he told us that he was addicted to heroin and was moving back to brazil to get his life in order. Huge step for him because his wife is about to walk out on him because he has been doing some crazy stuff. As he talked he started telling me that upon getting his life back in order he would like to start his own church where people pay him 10 percent in tithing that way he can buy a house in miami like he has always wanted. haha i got a little bit worried and tried to correct his form of thinking but he wouldnt let me get a word in. then his wife came out with plates of food for us so i just let him continue while i ate. Bless the brazilians for there food is to die for! After fininshing i basically told him that he needed to read the book of mormon. That if he prayed about it he would know that this is the true church on the earth today. He softened up and agreed to it. He did tell us the name of his church though..."the mysteries of God." if that isnt the most welcoming name than i dont know what is. haha.
We had a lesson with a former investigator last night named amin. He is a way nice guy with Muslim roots and was trying to convert us i think? It was quite funny because he would bring up these points of doctrine within the bible trying to bash us and my companion was getting all fiesty and i was just sitting there not into it at all. I dont like bashing. It leads to nothing. So after we were there for longer than we should have been in the middle of there little bickering i said something like "Amin as missionaries what we do is simple. We invite people to come to know if the book of mormon is true. It says it quite simply and clear in the introduction. We invite all men everywhere to read, ponder, and pray. If you do this with a sincere heart and real intent you will come to know that it is true. I know that if you follow these steps you can recieve an answer....Amin it was good to see you this evening and i hope you have a great week. We will keep in touch." I dont know if my companion liked that very much but the spirit was not there and it was uncomfortable. O well
This week we have a conference with Elder Dyches of the seventy. I am way excited. I have met him once before at stake conference in Norwich and he is a way cool guy. We also as a district bought christmas sweaters for us and president and sister jordan. Today we are taking some modeling pics in them. Tis the Season to get fancy! Should be pretty fun!
How is everything going on the home front? Everyone getting ready for christmas? This year it is going to be quite different being away but i am thankful for the opportunity to focus on the true meaning of christmas. It is a wonderful season and peoples hearts are softened. We are spending the day with some recent converts. the mom and her 2 kids converted but the husband did not. Hopefully we can establish a good relationship with him and get him interested in learning more. That would mean so much to the family and even more to the Lord! They see the picture i have of all of us kids on my planner and they are excited to meet you all via skype. They cant believe that 1 mother birthed all 7 of us. I just tell her she is a trooper indeed! How greatful i am for this gospel and the knowledge that it gives us that families are eternal. That physical death can not break the covenants we make in the temple.
This past week i have spent a lot of time in the book of Alma. I love Chapter 8-15. Alma has experienced much success in his missionary efforts. He has baptised whole lands of people. Then he got to the land of ammoniah. The people rejected him and threw him out. in the midst of his sorrow, even depression, an angel of the lord appears to him renewing his faith. Verse15 states "Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that adelivered it unto you." This is what Alma needed to hear. This is what renewed his faith. He is commandedo to go back into the land and preach to them again. And so he does. Not hesitantly but speedily. He meets Amulek and they go and preach together. Alma gives it a whirl with the people and again he is rejected. Recognizing that the lord giveth no commandment save he shall provide a way to accomplish it he continues. Then Amulek says you know what alma, ill show you how this whole conversion thing is done. He testifies to the people and still they reject him. How easy would it have been for them to just give up. To say you know what we tried. Lets go home. But they did not! Talk about submissiveness. They pressed on. They endured trials to recieve the blessings. They witnessed horrible things and were tried, and tested. To be short, they did recieve blessings for the things in which they did. Sometimes we go through hard times but we need always remember that it is our trials that allow us to grow. That the fact that we have trials are proof that we have a loving heavenly father. These are what allow our faith to be firm and unshakable. I am grateful for the challenges that i face daily. I know that no real and lasting success comes from the work in which i am doing unless i recognise that i am weak and can not do this work without the help of the lord. This is his work. As a servant of him I will do it his way. read those chapters if you get a chance. They are wonderful!
Family i love you all. I look forward to speaking to you this season. Just remember that i am still the same person. I am still extra wierd just like i use to be. I thought the mission would change that and i guess to a certain extent it has but i still have my personality. I enjoy making people smile and realize that life is good. weather it be another missionary or someone on the street, someone could always use a good laugh and the reassurance that life is good! I love this gospel and the work that i am doing. I know that this is the true church restored on the earth today. I know that Jospeh smith saw the things he said he saw and because of him, we have The Book of Mormon. What a wonderful gift!
Love you all
Elder Evans
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