Back to Work and Loving It!

Hi Family!

the sign says general surgery.. LOL!
 I feel so safe hahaha

This week has been a really good week.  Elder Dio is not "trunky" the way Elder Cancel was and we are back to work again.  The members in this area are all fantastic.

Sipalay is a country area not a big city so we are doing a lot of walking from house to house.  I am literally in the middle of nowhere.  But it is really green and beautiful view.  Another great thing is that my area is small!  Yay!  So we do walk a lot because the houses are far apart but the area/district is small.
 

goofy missionary face at zone mtg.

Since the district is small they don't have a Ward it is a Branch.  That is different and very small.  But they have awesome attendance, which is new.  The other areas were big but we had a hard time getting investigators and members to attend.  We have church at 9-12 then we have a special sacrament in our area in our apartement because the church building is really far for some of the members.  We have a room attached to our apartment that we hold the extra sacrament.  Our Branch President is awesome and really works with the missionaries.  It is amazing here.

View in Hinigaran

This week we were learning more of the area and the members and the investigators.  I found that we are about 5 seconds away from the beach.  That's the hardest thing now is to not go and run into the water.  Especially since it is hot during the day.  It does get cold at night because we are so close to the beach but that makes it easier to sleep! LOL

Just found out we all were transferring

I love my new companion, Elder Dio!  He is awesome and a hard worker.  He speaks Ilongo and Tagolog.  He only speaks Ilongo to me because that is all I understand! LOL  The members tell me that I am "sagad" (very skilled) in Ilongo.

I was sad to hear about Elder Scott passing away.  That's 3 apostles now that have died in the last couple of months.  General Conference will be exciting in a couple of weeks to see who is called in the place of the 3 apostles who have returned to heaven.

That's about it for now.  Make sure you send my razors soon.  I am almost out of the ones you sent me last.  I love all of you!!!!
Love,

Our last night as a district

Elder Evans

View of the beach in Tuyom

Town of Isabela when on exchanges
with Zone Leaders

I'm on the Move!

Hello Family,
 I hope you have had a good week. I had a relatively good week then I got a call from the A.P's saying that I am transferring. My new area is somewhere in  the Sipalay zone. My new companion is Elder Deo. He is a Filipino and apparently he is the same height as me. I have a temporary companion right now and we are at Robinsons in Bacolod. We are pdaying here then later today we will go to our new area in Sipalay.  He is travelling down to Sipalay with me because his companion is there also. Robinsons is like a little mall and where we catch the bus for our ride south and I will meet my new companion in my new area later this week.

I cant believe that both USC and BYU lost their games on Saturday night. Byu was so close. I got a post on my Facebook wall about it. I miss you guys so much and I would like you to wish Uncle Ed a happy birthday for me. I received the Evans package from the mission president yesterday. We had stake conference yesterday and he was invited to join:) I love all the snacks that I recived:) 

Elder Cancel went home this past week.  He will be missed but he will always have a place in my heart. He was an amazing Elder and a great friend!!!  We did a tie swap and I got him to write in my journal before he left.

I will be in the southern most zone in the mision.  It is about 3 hours south of Hinigaran where I just served.  I was told the area is country but I will see. I really dont care as long as I am serving the Lord.

Not much else to report here. I will have pictures next week bc my cord is packed:) and I will also be able to talk more about my new are.:)  Tell the Yeates thanks for the birthday card:)  I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you soon.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Evans

A Good Week of News!!

Hello Family!

On our way to a baptismal interview!

So I got some really good news this week.  I was able to talk to the missionaries that took my place in Sagay.  The told me that my favorite family that I was working with, the family that got offended by someone's comments at church, were baptized!!  I was so excited!  I really love that family and really happy about their baptism!  It made my day.

Some other cool news is that my companion gave me a surprise birthday party.  It was pretty neat and helped to make my birthday a good one.  We were at zone training and after the training was done he brought in pizza and cake. YUM!

My surprise birthday lunch and cake

So I had an egg and ham sandwich this morning for breakfast.  Much better than rice!  We also were able to have dinner with a family in the ward.  Sister Liza and her family feeds us every Sunday night. Dinner wasn't ready so we got to watch Matilda. We had Chicken curry and bikal express. I will make bikal express for you when I come home.

So we aren't having a lot of progress with our inactive members because of some political issues, but we are trying to help the people the best we can.

Little philippine children praying.  They are soo cute!

Don't have much going on this week, but we are going to Bacolod because Elder Cancel has a dentist appointment.  He has his "end of mission" appointments since he will be going home soon.

Well, time to go play basketball.  See ya next week.  I love and miss you all.

Love,
Elder Evans

The joy of Fast Sunday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ME!!

I am officially 19!  Kind of a weird birthday, but it was good anyway.  Thank you to everyone that sent me birthday wishes.  I really liked them and helped my day to be a good one.  This was my first birthday without cake.  I miss cake. Haa! Haa!

Not much of excitement has happened the last few weeks.  I did learn that even tho you don't pay yoir bills on time God protects you so that you can live. LOL My companion seems to forget that he puts the bills in his bag and then we end up paying them late. Thank goodness God is on our side and not the other way around!

Our family that is working on getting married is still working and being strong in the church. It costs a lot of money here to get married so that is why people just live together. But our family is being faithful and working on saving the money to get married. They are a really good family.

Also I have found what it means to truely have the love of god for other people. Some of the Philippine people think it is funny to whistle at American's like they are dogs. It gets me really mad but I try really hard to ignore them. It has really helped me to see how just little thing like a whistle can make someone feel bad and hurt.

My toe is finally getting better and it doesn't hurt much anymore so that was a really good thing this week. Elder Cancel has 5 more weeks left in his mission and is getting really "trunky". It is kind of hard to work with, but I will probably be the same way. :)

Well, that is about it. I love all of you a lot and miss you guys. Talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Evans

ps- no pictures this time. Sorry. :(

Mom forgot to Post!!

Neighborhood pet

Just helping you see the size of the spider.

*Note from mom* So I do need to apologize for not posting sooner. It's back-to-school time for his siblings!


Hello Family,
Mom, I got your birthday package this week.  I promise not to open it until my birthday . . . . maybe!!

This week was a little tuff.  I haven't been feeling well so it hurt our work a little.  I think I just have a stomach bug or something.  But the mission nurse and I are keeping an on it.  My toe is feeling and doing better so that is good.

Zone district lunch

 Elder Cancel is really great.  He helps out a lot since I am not feeling well.  Plus, I think he loves the extra sleep!  We still do our personal studies and prayers so don't worry mom.  I am not slacking off! ha!ha!ha!

We got more rain this week but I didn't get to enjoy it because I was inside the house.  But I am sure there will be more.

We may have another wedding soon.  One of our investigator families are planning their wedding so that they can be baptized.

Zone group picture before transfers

I am excited to see them baptized.  They are a loving and fun family.

Well, that is all for now.  I love all of you very much.

Love,

Elder Evans

Short and Sweet!

Farmland from Sagay

Hey mom,

I had a great week. We still have alot of struggling inactive's but with the Lords help we can reactivate them:) I love you guys so much and hope you're having fun:) It feels weird to email you knowing you won't read this until Friday. But its ok because you are with family that is what's important. 

This week went by so fast and it only gets faster... I guess thats a good thing...LOL I dont have any new pictures...:) It's hard in the city because I have taken pics of everything in Hinigaran.:)  Some bad news I think I have an ingrown toenail and it hurts but I am talking to the mission nurse about it:)

Nothing new is really going on here except for the less-active's:)  Anyway I finally got G&G Evans' package so if I were you I would send my birthday package now if you haven't already:)** I cant wait to hear from you guys soon:) It's hard to talk but I am on everyday for online prosyliting and that is more successful then actual prosyliting lol. 

Picture from last area, Sagay

This area is fun but I really miss Sagay because I miss the members and my recently baptized members I was close with them and I will keep that friendship forever.:) I was able to Facebook chat with Meaghen and Nicolas since you are out of town and that was pretty cool.:)  Anyway enjoy the cruise and I hope to see some pictures soon:)

LOve,

ELder EVans


***Mom note:  Always the little boy at heart!!  Wants to make sure he gets his birthday present! :)  And, yes, we have sent his birthday box already.  We just hope that it gets delivered in time.  The mail service in the Philippines is VERY slow! :)

All is Well!

The beautiful view in the area.

Things are going great this week!  We got some progress in some of our less actives this week.  They haven't been to church yet, but little by little they are seeing the importance of the gospel in their lives.  We are working with 10 families and love seeing the progress.

They have farms in the Philippines, too!

So, I know you will be on vaca next week, so hope you and Dad have a fun time.  Tell everybody hello for me and that I love them all so much!!

Things have been getting harder with the "gay rights" issue here.  The other missionaries in my zone have experienced a lot of different situations and are doing their best to share the love that they have for all of the Philippine people and to share the love that our Heavenly Father has for them also.  It does open up your eyes, though, when it is front and center in everyday life.

More fun at Zone Meeting

Elder Cancel is still a great companion.  We are doing really well with the Zone goals and it is great to have such a good friendship when serving.  I struggle now with the food. Having rice for all meals is starting to get tough.  Mom says it is my new challenge to work through since my companion issues from my last area are gone.  HaHaHa! You might be right mom. But I think I will run to a buffet when I come home!

Well, it is time to go play basketball with the members.  I LOVE MONDAYS!!!!  I love you all very much!

Love, 
Elder Evans