Oi família!
Well, the birthday went well. I feel older and a lot wiser than I felt last
year. That happens on the mission. You learn a lot, you grow a lot, and you´re
blessed a lot. I feel like I´ve learned,
grown, and been super blessed during this past year and a half. I´m happier than I can explain that I still
have six more months. This whole being
21 thing is a little weird. I don´t feel
21. I still feel 20. But at least I´ll be home for 22 so I can
listen to the Taylor Swift song.
We received word about transfers today. Élder Muniz and I will be staying in our
area, which grew! Our super small area
was divided between two companionships, but now the other one was taken from
the area, so now we have the whole ward to us!
I´m going to miss having Élder K. Oliveira and Élder T. Anderson in our
house, but Élder Muniz and I are super excited to get to work. Things are going to be awesome!!!
This week was super good.
It was hot. The sun was super
strong. I thought I was going to die
because of the heat, and the sun was really powerful. These are the complaints of a Cearense
missionary. It was also hot with really
strong sun. But it was still
awesome. We got some solid referals from
people, we found a new family to teach, and Victor came to church!!! I had a number of super awesome spiritual
experiences, but our lesson we had with Victor was a stand-out. We´ve been teaching him in the street on a
little patio because his family isn´t super receptive to us. Teaching in the street during the afternoon
isn´t terrible because they´re few people until about 4 or 5 o´ clock. But, it´s still not the best atmosphere. So, we headed over to a member´s house, Irmão
Wandemberg. Wandemberg is a returned
missionary that served in Riberão Preto (other mission in Brazil). We focused on receiving answers to our
prayers. As we were talking I saw how
excited Irmão Wandemberg was to be teaching and to share the good message
again. He talked about his mission with
such love and especially talked about the power of his conversion. Eventually we got to Victor and he said
"I´ve prayed 3 or 4 times about the Book of Mormon and I still haven´t
gotten an answer." As we asked a
little more he said that he was waiting to hear a voice tell him that it was
true. We clarified that answers come by
means of our feelings. Then he admited
that he had always felt really good when he was with us, when he read, and when
he prayed. But the best part was that he
saw that for Irmão Wandemberg, the gospel isn´t just something we talk
about. It´s a way of life. It was awesome. He came to church, liked it, and is excited
to learn more. The Lord poured out
miracles and the member of the stake presidency that spoke talked about how he
saw a lady on his mission give up smoking.
Guess what Victor´s problem is?
Smoking. Ah. Miracles are real.
But why, you may ask, The Freestyle Leg? (for those of you who don´t understand
swimming, you´ll need to ask my parents about my swimming history) The mission of an Élder learning a foreign
language is 16 transfers in the field.
The 400 Individual Medley is 16 lengths of the pool, four of each stroke
(buterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle). Today, the sisters of my MTC group (mission
of 12 transfers) went home. I´m on my last 4 transfers here in the field, or in
other words, the freestyle leg of my mission.
I always gave the 400 IM my all during the whole race, but I always had
something special in the tank for the end, the freestyle leg. So, with four more transfers to go, I´m going
to give it 120% every single day. We´re
going to find. We will teach. We will baptize like crazy. Why?
Because this is the truth. I know
it. I teach it. I live it.
I love it.
Até o próximo!
Élder Evans
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