The Ups and Downs in Coimbra

So our game of life we made for Hugo was a hit-they want a copy and everything-Luis the little brother was into it too, he also was able to understand I. Call this time so that was a plus, he had a lot of questions too. Tuesday was a good day we found Adelide at home, that’s a rarity I know that satan is out to destroy this work, because out of all the door bells that could have been busted by a beer bottle on that street it was that one. We’re trying we finally got her phone number but our only obstacle with that is she is an old lady that doesn’t answer her phone all the time. We had a lesson with a less actives girlfriend-he’s an odd duck one of those people that are really smart but at the same time really weird he might be a bit schizophrenic, I don’t know, but she asked a lot of good questions and we had a good first lesson with her. Then that night we were going to a ward members b-day party and we see a crowd out in front of her house, we were just figuring it was for her party but no the front wall of her house was smashed in-completely taken out, it turns out a drunk man hit it and ran-I’m amazed his car still worked, so that was the talk of the night.

Those Elders!

Wednesday the greatest thing that happened was we found Luticia at home and had a short little lesson on the Book of Mormon, I felt the spirit so strongly, we gave her the book and marked with her, so that was a high light.Thursday was tragic we had a lunch and dinner appt. well our dinner appt cancels but no big deal we still have lunch, but then one of the assistents calls one who has never served here and it turns out him and two other Elders from different areas jacked our lunch appt. with the Hinckley’s—é vida—blargh.

It Was the Best!

Friday was the best day of them all it was so great to be able to shake Elder L. Tom Perry’s hand and listen to him teach and counsel us. He is a great warm and kind man I wish it would have lasted forever. It was also great because I got to see my favorite Elders, E.Yetter, Johnson, Sand, Roberts, and others it was fun, I love stuff like that. We talked to a Canadian on the way back; she’s on her way to Greece to be a dive instructor. Then we got canceled on that night.

More Cancellations!

Saturday There was more cancelation but we did have a really good lesson with Elizabeth she was confused about our church and the Catholic, she was wondering how the Catholic church couldn’t not be true because it’s so old and has so many members. Well we went over the apostasy again, asked how she feels inside of them, and to pray to God about it we had her pray right there on the spot. Her prayers are getting better too-I love seeing the progress she is making. So Pedro is out and about he came to church yesterday and had an enjoyable time, met the ward members and really liked it so I’m happy, there was a funny incident that happened but we’ll save that until after the mission.

Testify

Yesterday was a pretty difficult day not as great as the last one so I won’t go there. All I know is Ruan is a little guitar genius-he impressed the snot out of I. Call with his skills and also I know that the Lord lives that Jesus Christ is His son and our Savior. I know Joseph was and is a prophet and that President Thomas S. Monson leads the church today, truly this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ I know it’s true, I testify to you that it’s true, the Book of Mormon is from God and reading it and other church magazines will bring a light and happiness into our lives. I love you all thank you for your support. Have a great week.

Cancelled On

Well a lot went on this week so I hope it makes sence and doesn't come out as a big jumbled mess. I'll start out at last Monday, we cut our P-day short to only get canceled on, that's always fun, but that night we were blessed, we went over to our MA house and had family home evening with them we watched the Restoration and marked their 10 year old Hugo for baptism, so July is the magical date, so we're working on games and exciting things to teach him with.

Rough Day!

Tuesday was a rough day but we went back to a house where a lady works to clean it and we talked to her a little more, she knew a member, but she said she likes to read and she accepted a Book of Mormon. We also taught a ancient investigator, it was quite the adventure trying to find her house, I'll be happy when I don't have to figure out Portuguese addresses anymore, they're ridiculous. She's 72 but honestly she looks 52, but she likes to talk and she went on about her sad life and her two rebellious sons, one of her sons joined the church and that's how she got contact with the church, but she said he did well for about 2-3 years but fell back into his old habits. So we'll work with her again and see where that goes.

President Henry's Advice

On Saturday we went to Porto for interviews, President talked to me about me knowing what I wanted to do, and kind of freaked me out because he talked about the difficulites of being an artist and made me freak out and then later I talked to I. Call and she was like well you marry someone...and then it hit me oh yeah I don't want to be the bread winner-so I'm still going strong with wanting to illustrate for books. We got back and went to dinner with Americans-they're missionaries, they came here to study Portuguese but then they're going on to Mozambique to like for 4 years, it was really interesting to hear how they do it, and after it, and looking how we do missionary work I know this is the Lord's true church. They are really nice, and I really want to help them find the truth even if they are missionaries, they have 3 boys, 3,2, and 1 basically, they're really good people and it was a treat to speak in English and eat Mexican food. Their house is kind of out there and we had a baptism to go to but missed it, I felt kind of bad, oh well the Braga sisters were there-kind of ridiculous but yeah.

Smoking What?

I. Call decided to heat up her eye brow wax on our burners and then take a shower, I didn't know this and then the next thing I know is a smell really potent wood smell I look up and something is smoking, I'm like what the junk because I didn't know she was doing that, I go over and knock it off. So afterwards my eyes and throat killed for the rest of the day, I still have a soar throat.

Contacts

We finally contacted our reference two girls from Cape Verde, they were receptive, but the problem is the work a lot. We had two sets of Americans in church yesterday, that was pretty fun, one a husband and wife, he served here two years back and the other a family where the sun served in Lisbon and they wanted to come see the North.

A Great Day

Yesterday was a great day, oh Pedro gets out again either this week or next, but we went and had the first lesson with Andrea a girl we contacted maybe 2 weeks back, she's from São Paulo so that was good and she wants us to come back so that's a perk. Then we finally had a lesson with Jessica, Lucia and Emanuel it's been a while since we talked to all of them-so that was a blessing. Well that's my week, not to many left--I know I know I've got to make them count. Truly it's all about putting your trust in the Lord-Elder Scott gave a talk at BYU on 10 steps to happiness, I'm going to work on practicing those in my life because I know how important happiness is and I always want that in my life no matter what.

Celebrations

So oh great new Elder Perry is coming on Friday to talk to the Missionaries-so that's Elder Bednar and Perry, so blessed. My birthday was good-I can't believe I'm 24-we went to an Italian place, I wanted pizza but they didn't make them till after one-so I got something else, and ended up wanting what other people had-of course, oh well it was fun, it was fun to celebrate with I. Call as my comp. I love you all so much, I want to let you know that I have such a strong testimony that this church is true, that everything it teaches is good and right and true. I love the Prophet and Apostles. Have a great week. Amo-te.

Happy Mom's Day!

Mama I love you, it was so nice to talk to you this time, and not having any dark clouds hanging over head. Trevor's so lucky, I forgot to tell you to tell him I love him-oh well. I can't believe I'll be 24 this week, thanks for the packages, er when they arrive. It's good to know I'm loved. I'm glad things are going better for you all. Keep me in the loop about Adele's middle name. It was so great to talk to you I wish I could have talked to you all longer. That's all right, I need to keep focused and make it a great 2 more months. I've learned so much I'm so grateful for my goodly parents that have taught me and for the priveledge to serve a mission here in Portugal. I love you so much my mama, I hope your day yesterday was excellent. You're always in my prayers, Amo-te!

Who's Trunky?

Lets see what can I write about this week, I don’t really think I told anyone anything except Brendon and Karen, I do believe I talked longer to them then my own siblings-that’s pretty funny that’s okay it was a great chat. I hope I didn’t come off as too trunky-but what is trunky missing family and home? I’ve been basically trunky my whole mission then. Well on to better topics I’m going to try to heed the advice of dad. Last week was kind of difficult nobody wanted to answer there telephone so I wasn’t able to really make any appointments. We visited members that live far away and we’re getting them all excited for missionary work, and challenging them to have a family night or invite some one to church or pray for an experience, I don’t know if I already told you but we want to have them do a ward fast for missionary work in the month of June.

Surprise for Irma Call!

It was I. Call’s birthday on Friday (She’s from Murray, Utah she said she’s probably related to him) that’s funny I get a new mission president on the 2nd of July. Anywho moving on her birthday, the Elders threw a surprise party for her, it was funny and hard to try to keep it a secret from her, she said she suspected something when I went into the bathroom, but what are you suppose to do in a one room appt? Our DL called up saying he needed the scale-for her to come back to the church—she was peeved I was pretty sure she was going to say no, but we got there and the door was left open, and she kind of caught on, it was fun never the less. I love how Monty Python never gets old to quote amongst men.

Ups and Downs!

So we had a good lesson about Joseph Smith with Elizabeth, I don’t know if I told you this but she couldn’t get permission to go to our church because the doctors there say it’s a sect and will mess with her head, so that upset us. I think I told you the rest I don’t know what I said to you all yesterday my memory is terrible, it was just wonderful to talk to you all, even though it was for such a short time, that’s hard. The baptism yesterday was amazing, Aja bore her testimony and it was really good, she told of how she knew her being here in Portugal was probably the only way she’d accept the Gospel, that’s why we wanted to do it so quick and in Portugal because every member she knows is here, the missionaries, Ambrosia, the members in both wards, so she’s off to Seattle, hopefully to make the team. The spirit was strong, and it was fun to watch the Portuguese people speak in English.

I Was Saddened :(

Um I’m at a loss, I was saddened I wasn’t sung to this year-oh well—also that I didn’t get to Marcus for very long, I can’t wait till I can sit down and talk to you all and catch up. Sorry if I whined to about being old and not married, that’s I think the thing that’s getting to me now, but that’s a good thing though, that I want to get married now. I still need to learn how to cook better, that’s something I’ve skillfully handed off to my companions-oh my personality—well actually I don’t think I’ve eaten a decent dinner in like a week and a half all people feed us here are bolos and bolachas-so I’ll definitely be fat. Well I’m going to stop there too. Thank you everyone for your support and love, have a fun and safe week. I love you all até próxima! Amo-vos!Irmã Evans

Sodom and Gomorrah is alive and well in Portugal!

Well I just read about Sodom and Gamoroah-heh like I can spell-in the bible and I’m pretty sure I just witnessed something like it yesterday—my peaceful little Coimbra on Sundays was not so peaceful. It’s called Camas das Fitas-I’m pretty sure I spelled it wrong, anywho the university here is like the oldest university in Europe or next to it, so of course they have a lo of old crazy traditions-I’ll tell you more about it when I get home, but basically what it’s turned into is one drunken mess, well it actually lasts a whole week, but yesterday is where each faculty makes a float and they wear their colors and ride around in a parade giving out things to people. So basically it’s like an open invitation for everyone to drink and so you have all of these drunk people hanging out of the floats, being ridiculous, definitely not a dignified way to show off their year of work at school. It was so loud and we had to stay in, I’d just hear sirens non stop-poor medical people-but we did try a member and she wasn’t home and we passed police men and one yelled out SISTERS and we were like hey, turns out he’s from Lisbon, they called the Police in from there to help and he talked with us told us his brother served a mission in Utah and that he appreciated our work and we were a great example, it was an awesome experience. It was nasty though the streets stunk of beer and well other unpleasentries. Well that’s enough about that.

Life as a Missionary

So as for this week, Monday night was pretty great our plans fell through, so we went to go talk to Francisca and she wasn’t home but a girl was by the door and I heard her say keys with an accent so I was like are you from Brasil and that got us talking, she said we could come back, so that was great. Afterwards we talked with Paulo again after like 8 weeks, so we’ll continue with him-this week is hard with the Camas our student investigators aren’t so readily available. Tuesday we had Zone Conference and head Elder Robert C. Oaks teach us, it was really good, he likes stories so a lot were told and it was great to hear, I love being pumped up to do the work from those meetings. It was a good Zone Conference; I can’t believe I only have one more left-INSANE!We went to the hospital twice this week to visit Conceição she got a priesthood blessing; I’m hoping that helps her along with the conversion process. Aja is doing well she should be getting baptized this Friday, we went and watched one of their games to give them support it was fun, we took some members to-I think she appreciated that we were there. They came to church and Ambrosia bore her testimony-it’s funny because E. Spiel had to go up there and be her interpreter.

More Life...

Pedro might get out again for like a week-crazy I know-he said he’ll come to church though-that’s all I want to hear. Also a menos activo her son is 10 and we talked about baptism with him so were going to work towards that with him. Life is great, it’s getting warmer, bleh humidity, I’m not excited. I. Call is great just picking up the language and helping me along so I’m really blessed. I love you all have a great week! I love the Lord and my Savior, the opportunity to repent of our sins, the knowledge of the plan, and Joseph, Hyrum and Samuel Smith-I LOVE this church-it’s TRUE! Love you all