Oi familia!
So, things are still flat here in Kansas. This past
week has been, interesting, to say the least, but it has been good. I'm
still living well and doing what I can to serve the Lord here in Kansas.
No news on the visa, but I'm not super worried about it. It will get here
when it gets here according to the will of the Lord. I'm learning quickly
that the Lord has his own plan for us and is in the details. If things don't go
according to plan, it's because the Lord has better plans for us.
Essentially, our biggest problem this week has been
transportation. Due to the huge influx of new missionaries zones have had
to be split, more zone leaders had to be called, and zone leaders are required
to have a car. Not a problem, until Elder Sutherland was instructed to take our
car with him until the mission gets new ones. So, we don't have a car and our area
covers 2100 square miles. One way or another, this past week has helped
me to learn a lot. We've really had to rely upon the Lord that our plans
will go through. My motto for the week has been 1 Nephi 3:7. It's a
fairly famous scripture that talks about how the Lord always prepares us a way
to accomplish what he commands us. It hasn't been easy coordinating
rides, making visits, planning, and generally trying to be a good missionary,
but I'm quickly learning that if we aren't able to do something or get
somewhere, there is a reason for it.
Last night was a perfect example. We had returned from
church and had lunch and it was about 3:30 by this point. We
had planned to go to Harper (about 15 miles away) and proselyte there. We
had a decent list of names that would have filled the entire rest of the day.
We had received a suggestion from the Bishopric that we should request
rides from less-actives to try and bolster them as well as get us moving from
city to city. We called one who could bring us back home, but we couldn't find
one to take us there. We went over the lists of names we had of people
around the area and none of them were available to get us to Harper. The
day before we discovered an extra bike in the Brundage's shed and I'd used that,
but we simply didn't have the time to bike to Harper and back.
Frustrated, we knelt and prayed and asked the Lord for a way to
accomplish our plans. After we had ended, my companion said "Well,
how about we go and see the names we have here in Argonia, then we'll come back
and see if we can get a ride then?" We only had two names to see,
but I didn't have a better idea so we went for it. The first guy is an
investigator named Richard who I may have talked about before. We dropped
by him. Both cars were there, we heard him in the house, we knocked three
separate times, no answer. Then we went to see Troy. Troy had no real
interest in joining or learning about the church, but asked us to drop by every
once in a while, so we figured we would today. We got there and he sat
and talked with us. He said he was kind of in a weird mood (translation:
buzzed) so he would sit and talk with us. We began teaching about the
Restoration and he would disagree here, and disagree there but over time you
could tell that he was beginning to open up. He began talking about how
he had a terrible week and everything that had made it terrible. We talked with
him for almost two hours and finally determined that he felt he had been
abandoned by God. We testified to him that we were messengers sent to
comfort him and that we were not only here as messengers but as friends.
It was amazing to see the change in him as he opened up to our message.
He may not be baptized, but for nothing else, he needed to know he was
loved. We returned home and had an hour left to proselyte after dinner.
We never made it to Harper yesterday, but I know there was a good reason
for it. Troy needed to know that he was a son of God.
Kansas is still good. Flat. Dry. Hot.
Humid. Wonderful. Fantastic. My temporary mission. Being a
missionary has been exceedingly challenging, especially this past week, but I
wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Ate mais! Eu vos amamos! (turns out I was saying it wrong)
Elder Evans
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