Finding and Frustration

Things are going well. We have been finding new investigators which is always awesome, but the bad part about this week was all of the appointments that didn´t show up. On Tuesday we had our weekly district meeting and of course we hit up the tacos in the mercado afterwards. (Insert cool picture here)

We visited Sthephany and Briseyde, (the recent convert and her sis. that was going to get baptized with her a year ago) and they brought a friend who used to listen to the missionaries way back when. She seemed to pay a lot of attention and was interested. The only bad part was that we could never get to visit them after that Tuesday. Let´s cross our fingers for this week. Later we visited Martha and talked about Alma 32 and how the Word is like a seed. It seemed to fit her needs perfectly. Last week she went to the MoTab event and this week some members have been stopping by to talk with her, get her excited, and leave her old Ensigns. (Insert other picture here)

(Martha at her place of work-selling chickens)
She wants her daughter to listen to us, so we are arranging that as of right now. We haven´t been able to see Gaspar and Margarita all week, I think we´re losing them. This saddens me.

Planting Seeds

On Wednesday we did some contacting and found a nice lady from another city called Tuxpan. She said that she was going to be moving back and would like to visit the chapel there one sunday. It was a good seed planting opportunity. Later we did visits with the Elder´s Quorum and visited some less active members. The ward is looking pretty sad lately. There are zero Aaronic Priesthood holders, the three High Priests is the Bishopric, and 2 out of the 5 Elders that go are excommunicated members. Yep, it can only go up from there. Some weeks are better than others in regards to attendance. 30 to 60 Members go every week. . . .Anyways. . .Later we visited The Vazquez family and helped the sister out with her thoughts on adversity. It was great, every scripture that my companion shared in Comp Study worked out great for her needs. I also added some of my favorite scriptures on the topic and it seemed like we helped her out ok."

Downs in the Mission

Thursday was a pretty tough day. Not much went on appointment wise and had a tough time contacting. We did end the day with a Family Home Evening with a part member family watching Jesus Christ: The Great Mediator. Friday we visited with a contact that we mad on Wednesday. She seemed very nice and has family that are members in Mexico City. The lesson went well, but unfortunately we won´t be able to go back for a couple of weeks. We had yet more appointments fall, but went and helped the missionaries in the other ward with a FHE that they were doing.

Golden Investigators

It was Saturday when we found a couple of investigators with great potential. The elders before us had found and taught them and did a very good job. Alejandro remembered quite a bit about prophets and praying. We gave them a book of mormon and re taught the first lesson. They weren´t able to come to church this week, but this sunday we are hoping they´ll be able to come. That is the real challenge with us right now, nobody is coming to church. We go to pick them up, remind them via phone calls or text messages, but without any luck. It makes it kind of hard to complete the goal for baptisms that we set for this transfer. But there are still 2 sundays left before I leave to Tampico. . .

Good Eats

On Sunday we went to church, went to eat octopus at the bishop´s house, saw that USA lost to Mexico in the US for the first time in 10 years, went to some more fallen appointments, then celebrated Elder Avila Jr´s (my ex-comp´s little brother) birthday with a Carne Asada. It was very good. I´m going to miss Mexican Food. The good thing is that Reddin cooks the food here very similar."

Carne Asada for Elder Avila's Birthday

Home Comings

It was so good to see Aubs home and the pictures of the family at the airport. It is just a look ahead of things to come for me, I guess. Weird. The less time I start to have here, the more I am realizing that I am really going to miss it. I am really excited to come home though.

I'm an Uncle!

Yay! I didn´t even remember that Adele was going to be born last week! She sure is a cutie. I guess I won´t miss too much of her childhood like I have some of the other nieces and nephews. I love being an uncle again. It´s too bad I´ll miss Trav & Steph in AZ. I guess that gives me that much more reason to make a NY trip to see them and the little Collin. It´s good that you are all enjoying the whole family together. Sorry I couldn´t make it. Well, I can´t think of anything else too important to say at the moment. I love you all and hope you have another great week! See you in a few. . . Elder Evans

Random picture from way back when to show that there are alligators in Mexico

Under the Weather

Well, I recieved a short letter this week so I am going to try to write a shorter one. This week wasn´t the greatest. I was feeling a little under the weather for a couple days with a cold I think. It was the first time I had a cough and stuffy nose for over 2 years. It was a pretty weird feeling, especially because it´s pretty hot out.

Martha

Things are still going well with Martha- she was able to go to the transmission of the 80th anniversary of the music and the spoken word. I thought it was going to be a devotional, but it ended up being a concert. Who knows what she thought of it. The bad part was that here they said it started at 5:30 but it really started at 6:30. We had to wait an hour, then the program lasted and hour and a half. Oh well. At least she was able to get to know the church and I hope that she felt good being there. We will have to see.

The Work Goes On

We searched for a recent convert named Sthephany that has been studying out of town this last year. We found her and found out her sister Briseyde was going to get baptized last year but decided not to. We are teaching her now and hope she´ll get baptized before her sister goes back to school. They are a really nice family and it will be nice to have one more investigator to teach. Gaspar and Margarita haven´t been at their house lately. They still haven´t been to church since my first sunday. They have their problems still, but they aren´t wanting to go to church and let the lord help them in their problems. I hope we´ll be able to find them at home this week.

New President

Zone Conference was on Saturday. It went really well. The new president has already changed some things around, but it is for the good of the mission. I know the Lord calls people who are qualified to lead his work in the correct form at the correct time. It´ll be hard for me to get too adjusted to him seeing that I´ll only see him twice more.

My Goal

We are looking to have three more baptisms. It´ll take some work, but I want to end on a good note and end baptizing. I know I´ll need the help of the Lord to accomlish this goal.

Family from the Past

I found a family that got baptized right after Reddin left Papantla. And I realized that Reddin wasn´t actually in my ward, he was in the neighboring wards- Tajin and Xanath. but the family remembered Reddin´s second companion- Elder Morales and also the elder that took reddin´s spot- Elder Stuart. They wanted to know if reddin remembered the elder that baptized them- Elder Mosqueda.

Family Business

That´s good that Aubs got home safe and sound. All day that day I was thinking about you guys and how nice it must have been for everyone. That´s good that she was able to get released before heading off to snowflake. I get home at around 8. Do you think we´ll be able to make it to the stake center that night to get released? Sister Call´s sister is from mesa and works in the offices in the temple one day a week. I think her name was sister Cutwright? Cartwright? or something like that? They are from a Mountain View Stake. Hope Everything is going awesome still. Hopefully Aubs is enjoying herself. Say Hi to Trav and Steph. And if at all possible- tell Travis that he needs to bring all the clothes and stuff he stole from me to AZ so that I can have at least somethings when I get home. Hopefully he hasn´t already left. Well. I can´t think of anything else too special to write. I love you all. Thanks!! Bye. Elder Evans

Slow Week

This week was a little slower. I guess my companion´s stomach is not used to eating some of the food that I´ve been eating for 23 Months. It was a good week, but our tracting efforts didn´t come out too successful. Martha is continuing strong. She paid her tithing this week even though she can´t go to church until august and plans on paying every week. I am pretty content because she is pretty golden and will be a baptism for elder Lewis once I leave. We taught a new old lady that went to the baptism named bertha. She is pretty old but still capable of baptism. She acts pretty weird around my companion though, I think he thinks she´s pretty scary. Gaspar and Margarita are still having problems with their in-laws and so that is holding up the wedding I think. They have changed a lot to get to where they are, but they still lack a little bit of faith and obedience. We weren´t able to find them all week after Tuesday.

Montezuma's Curse

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty slow days. My companion couldn´t be away from the toilet for too long and to save an embarrassing situation we only went to the appointments we had planned and back and forth to the house. We are looking right now to find more less active members because our ward needs a lot of help. There aren´t too many members in the chapel on sundays. This sunday was good though, we had about 50 or so. But it is tough because we are kind of in the central part of town where there are poorer families and lots of people move in and out.

Spanglish...Gotta Love It!

Friday we met with Martha again and explained some things about scripture study and the book of mormon that she didn´t really understand. Oh I forgot, it randomly rained pretty hard on Thurs and Fri so that made the work a little more difficult without any citas. (citas= appointments by the way. I barely even caught that case of Spanglish. I´m going to miss Spanglish, sometimes I can just express myself better using the two languages together.)

Service Saturday

Saturday we were going to do service for an hermano, but it got cancelled for some reason. After ward it was pretty tough because we didn´t have many appointments planned and it also rained that day too. We did contact and find someone who seems to be pretty interested in what we have to say. His name is Victor, he´s about 50ish and we´re going back on Saturday.

Talking Again!

Church was good. I was assigned to talk again next week, but this time the topic is health. We´ll see how it goes. I think I spoke the last sunday in June. Maybe second to last. . . Our citas fell through sunday afternoon but later we went with a less active member and she made us homemade pizza. It is a lot like your potatoe pizza. I told the hermana how much i loved the potatoe pizza and she asked the recipe. I guess I just told her it was mashed potates, bacon, and cheese on top. Am I missing anything?

Just Stuff

I saw part of the movie ¨the errand of angels¨ - about sister missionaries in Germany. It made me think a lot about aubs. It is crazy to me that she´ll be home this week. That went by fast, and means my time will come that much faster. I´m feeling okay about calculus. There are a lot of people to help and normally the advanced high school classes I took are harder than real college classes.. ..sometimes. . . sometimes.

Just Stuff

I guess they assasinated an apostate group leader named LeBaron in Chihuahua, but that gives the news media a perfect reason to name him the ¨Mormon Leader in Mexico¨ and lead people to believe that the church is something it´s not. Oh well. That´s great to hear about the dbacks. and sad about the mesa pools being shut down. I hope the book shelves in my room don´t look too tacky. Speaking of things like that- all my pictures and music are still on the computer downstairs, right? I really hope nothing has happened to all that stuff. My greenie is doing good. I feel bad that he hasn´t progressed more in the month he´s been here, but it doesn´t help that I have to teach him correct english before spanish. (as in- what is an adjective, noun, etc) He´s doing great though and has not complained once.

No Pictures but....

Sorry, I don´t have any exciting pictures this week. I´ll try harder next week. Well, I don´t know if i´m forgetting anything, but I love you all, I love the church and all the Lord has blessed us with. Recently I´ve read Truth Restored (not knowing that it is no longer part of the missionary library) and Our Heritage- which are basically the same story, but I am soo greatful for the sacrifices of the early saints and leaders and am so greatful for the legacy that we have been left. We are so blessed to have the knowlege of the gospel in our lives and live it. Elder Evanst? I really hope nothing has happened to all that stuff. My greenie is doing good.

Pictures from Papantla-Then and Now

In the decade since Reddin served a mission in Veracruz, his first area, Papantla, is now in the Tampico mission. Trevor is now serving in that area. Here are some pictures that Trevor took and Reddin sent to Trevor.

Spreading the Word

Tuesday we had to go to a different area to eat with the hermana, but she lived in a pretty cool place, on a hill overlooking the baseball field. Afterwards we were kind of rushed so we had to switch around our appointments. First we went to Martha´s house and she asked us if we drink Coca Cola, when we told her yes later she asked if we drank coffee, which set us up perfectly to teach the word of wisdom. She understood really well and had a lot of good questions and comments. When ending, we mentioned 1 Cor. 3:16 about the body being a temple and related it to the Temples. We showed her a picture of the temple and she asked how we build them. That set us up perfectly to teach tithing, which she already has a testimony of. She won´t be able to go to church or get baptized until after august, but she already wants to pay her tithing because she knows of the blessings that come from that sacrifice. She was a Jehovahs Witness, so has a lot of knowlege about some scriptures and commandments. Later we talked to Gaspar and Margarita and due to problems with their inlaws (they want to baptized their son) Margarita is no longer going to work. They sid theat their situation would be tight, but knew they could do it with the help of the Lord. I just had to explain to them the blessing of tithing in our lives. Some think its a burden- but it really is a chance to show the Lord our faithfulness and recieve many many promised blessings.

Laundry Day

Wednesday we washed our clothes (in a sink with a brush). since last september I haven´t washed by hand. In Abasolo I had a lot of extra money because there wasn´t much to spend it on, so i´d use it to take all the clothes to the landramat lady. She´d give us a discount, so it was nice. In Cañada I took all my clothes to a laundrimat, but then in Poza Rica I´d wash shirts and garments by hand and take pants and socks to the laundrimat. In Valles, we didn´t have a sink to wash in, but an hermana would wash our clothes for a discount. In the offices we had washing machine. Today the family that lives below us fixed their washing machine, so we used it. It was nice. So that is the story of how I´ve cleaned my clothes on my mission. Did you realize I don´t know how to spell laundromat? Later we planned everything for the baptism and later went to a family home evening and watched those animated classics scripture movies. Pres. Moss also left that day. I still haven´t met President Call.

Saying Good-bye

Thursday I said goodbye to my ex companion E. Avila. He goes home today. He called me this morning to say goodbye. I was with him twice, for 3 transfers in total- more than any other companion. He is a great friend and I plan on staying in contact with him and visiting Cd. Juarez someday. It is closer to Mesa than anyone that lives in Utah. Later we visited Martha and taught her the law of chastity and later we went and taught a less active family about obedience.

Up and Downs of a Missionary

On Friday we started off the day contacting. We were going good for a while, then I started discussing the Virgen Mary with a couple of ladies. They didn´t like what I had to say. Later we found a lady who had already visited with the missionaries. She looks like she has prospective. Later we had the baptismal interview for Karina and later went and visited a less active family.

Primary Activity Day?

On Saturday morning the stake primary president asked our help for an activity they had. We opened and closed the curtains for every ward´s small play about the stories from the book of mormon. It was so funny to see the small children in their costumes not having any idea what to do and their primary leaders off to the side whispering directions to them. The scenery and the props were all really well done though. Later we had hotdogs and cake and then cleaned out the baptismal font and filled it again. We had to go eat, but afterwards finished preparing things until the baptism.

Karina's Baptism

The baptism went really well. A good amount of members went, the speakers spoke with the spirit and with was an all around good experience. I sang ¨When I am Baptized¨ again, and all the members really liked it. I forget sometimes that being able to sing is a lot rarer talent here in Mexico. After the baptism we had refreshments and they had me sing 2 more times so they could record it. Later all the missionaries from the district gathered at Elder Horton´s house and cooked hot dogs while listening to patriotic music as performed by the mormon tabernacle choir.

Familia Silva

Sunday was a pretty slow day. Church was good, then we went to eat, but the hermana didn´t have it ready. Afterwards, we went to another area with the companionship from the area and visited a family that Reddin visited when he was here. It was the Silva Family. I visited with the hermana and her son (located in the middle and on the far left of the picture, the man with the mustache). She remembered Reddin and thanked him for helping her husband listen to the discussions and decide to be baptized. She said the day he was going to get baptized, he died. Reddin didn´t tell me that I don´t think. Later on that night we taught two new families, so we´ll see what happens there.

Elder Evans with the Silvas

Elder Evans (Reddin on the top left) with the Silva Family

Uno Mas Transfer...or I did learn how to speak Chinese:)

It´s crazy to me that I only have one transfer left. I have been thinking about things from home, and it amazes me to think that in only 6 weeks, i´ll be there. I still don´t think I understand the reality of the situation. Love you, I hope everything continues to go well. Bye. Elder Evans

A Day Late

Sorry I´m writing a day late. Yesterday we went to Poza Rica and played soccer with the about 30 other Elders and later made some trips to Sam´s Club to buy some things and by the time we got back to Papantla we only had time to go to an appointment we had. But things are going great here. Did Carrie tell you about the change in schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays? You might have to sign me up for a different Institute class, but at a later time. . .

My Greenie is Progressing

My companion is doing really well, he is understanding more and is more eager to try and talk but we still have a lot to learn together. One problem I have seen and he has explained to me is that he wasn´t the best English student- or his english isn´t very proper. Later that makes it harder to speak spanish because you can´t translate things correctly. One funny thing he asked me was after church he asked in spanish ¨Donde Con Ahora¨ and I asked ¨what?!¨ and he said yeah ¨where with now?¨ thinking that it was correct. I told him I had no Idea what that was supposed to mean. He told me that while he was working for his dad as an electrician when he would always say that phrase after finishing a job and asking where to go afterward. I guess he was just mixing ¨where to now¨ and ¨with who now¨. But he is doing well. He is humble and always willing to do what is needed.

Hot and Muggy

The weather is still hot and muggy. We get some random days where it rains a little bit in the morning or at night. At nights there has been some lightning but nothing big- nothing compared to an arizona monsoon. I have not had elder Perez as a companion and I have never really been to Ebano. I´ve only passed through it while going to Valles. It is dryer there I imagine. there aren´t too many places close to it, beides valles. It´s a smaller town, I don´t think the church is too big there. I think it´s a ward, but I´m not sure because I don´t think they have a normal chapel. Who knows. Whichever ward has elder moyer will definitely be blessed, because practically no one plays the piano.

Happy 4th of July

Karina is doing good, she is still excited to get baptized the 4th of July (I think) It is so hard to tell with her sometimes, she is super shy and barely talks in the lessons. Later we visited with Martha a little bit and talked to her about the Sabbath Day. She has to work on sundays to pay off a debt she has, but after paying it she wants to come to see how the church is to be able to get baptized. We visited quite a lot of less active members this week and have been trying to just get to know them and gain a good relationship with them. We visited with Gaspar on Wednesday and he was waiting for Margarita to get there so they could sort out their problems. He wants to get married and baptized and she does too, but sometimes they can´t stop arguing and fighting I guess. Later in the week we taught Martha about how Satan is trying to discourage her from following the truth. She knows the jehovahs witness isn´t the true church but says she feels like things have gotten harder since she left their church. We shared how satan tryed to destroy Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and showed her the Restoration Video. It was a really good lesson.

The Work Continues

On Friday we tried tracting in the town Plaza because there are a lot of people, but it didn´t work out too well because everyone from there is from a little ranch outside of Papantla. We ate with the bishop and he told us michael jackson had died. Later he turned on the news and they were talking about him. Later we went to a different house and there they were showing all the music videos of his. Afterwards we went to a different member´s house and a talk show was discussing the whole situation. It was pretty funny. Saturday we went looking for recent converts and less active members. Later we taught Karina the importance of obedience to the commandments. We went to a youth activity and there the bishop asked me to give a talk in church. I prepared the talk the next morning but forgot my notes at home. I talked on missionary work and thought I did a good job. I told a story about Dieter F. Uchdorf´s grandma and how after WWII an elderly member in a food line invited her to Sacrament Meeting. Later she and Pres. Uchdorf´s parents went, felt the spirit, and were converted. I doubt that elderly woman knew what would come about from one simple invitation. I was thinking about how many people´s lives have been blessed from the two time stake president, member of the seventy, and now Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how it all came from inviting one old grandma to church.

Great Dad

I´m glad that dad is doing okay after getting his pacemaker changed. I meant to express to him last week in honor of fathers day how greatful I am to have him as a dad. I really appreciate everything he has done for me and am so glad that he is going to be there when I get home. I feel like I inherited a lot of character traits from him and I am honored to be like my dad. I love getting his slide shows and seeing all the pictures of the family and things. Thanks dad, I love you. Well, I can´t remember anything else I was going to say, or if I WAS going to say anything else. That means it´s time to sign off. Love you all. Bye. Elder Evans