rooster carriers and geckos

Hey Mom good morning! How was your week?? So to start off, I have two questions for you Mom, one; did Wade take the missionary discussions to get baptized? And how did you get reactived after leaving for so long?

So some exciting news for this week, here in Camiri we had a baptism! It wasn´t ours, but its the first one here since April. It was a really sweet experience, and the young man who was baptized was so prepared. His name is Simón José. He´s pretty timid and shy, but a great person and will be a great leader one day. I sure do love baptisms :)

I thought you all might get a kick out of this picture. Who knows why someone would invent a rooster carrier but there it is! :D

And here is me with a gecko on my face :)

And my pet cactus!

Geez I really don´t have many good pictures sorry :D 

Here was me with the Branch President from Vallegrande, President Tito. They were our family that fed us everyday there :)

hahaha and this was me and Elder Illanes in a huge tree. I liked these photos :D

These are all old by the way. :) And one more of Vallegrande.

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​Haha that´s good Wade took the lessons. I wondered :D I never knew that every convert had to take the lessons from the missionaries. Thanks for sharing with me! What´s great about your story is that that process is exactly the one we have started to use with all members who are returning and the new converts. What a great testimony builder for the process :) 

As for breakfast, I eat cereal everyday. :) I now cannot live without eating breakfast. It ruins my whole day; i´m just without energy at all! At the beginning of the mission I eat eggs, and oatmeal, and occasionally had something different, but now it´s just cereal. I love cereal :D Before I didn´t like cereal all that much but it´s the best. As for dinner, depends. Sometimes we eat Ramen, or bread, or fried chicken. I love fried chicken. That´s the fast food of Bolivia. Fried Chicken with french fries and rice. It´s the best :D hahaha but dinner isn´t really important in South America. It´s all about lunch! :D

Simón is the guy right next to me in all white clothing. Half were the family of Simón, and the other half members. haha I don´t really feel tall, I just don´t feel short anymore! :D Well with the funds of the mission we pay a family to make lunch for us everyday. And I have to believe that yes, it does help the families, but it´s our spirit there that helps them the most. :) At least, that´s what they always say :) 

I´m starting to gain weight here. We get absolutely stuffed everyday for lunch. I´m just dying after eating.haha I was losing most of my weight in Vallegrande because I kept getting sick. The food there was not super clean I don´t think. 

Far left, companion. For laundry, I always take it to some sister to clean :D haha There are always members who will do it :) Some we pay, others no. The missionaries are well loved :)

Humbled and singing

So Sorry i haven´t sent any pictures recently. With Elder Villegas we just don´t take pictures. I literally think I have like 5 pictures of my time in Camiri. We´re just super focused on the work. Elder Villegas is pretty strict with the rules and we aren´t ever supposed to look like tourists, so I have to imagine that´s why. I just always forget! :D But as for my week, it was pretty good! Last Monday we left for Santa Cruz for a conference with President Willard. The conference was centered in Christ. We all memorized ¨The Living Christ¨ and recited it together as a mission. It was a really cool experience. As always when we learn in the Gospel, we should have a question, or something that we want to improve, and I went to the conference with the hope of becoming more humble and less self-conceited. And well, after the conference I was feeling pretty good, and then I got humbled. Just lots of fun stuff that helped me realize that I am all too human I guess. Lots of errors and mistakes on my part... My companion remembers everything for one thing, and doesn´t hold anything back, so I get to learn all the things I do wrong :D But I know it´s good. We actually get along really well. And I know that I´m learning about all my faults because I´m ready to change them. Heavenly Father always gives us what we need to become better. I remember one district meeting we joked that we needed to pray to Heavenly Father for trials, buuuut asking to be humbler is essentially the same thing I realize :D 

My voice has actually grown quite a bit as well since I left! We sang for the last conference, a quartet, and I saw certain missionaries open-mouthed during the performance :D Our voices mixed pretty well. We sing everyday together, in three or four parts. It´s the best :)

08-11-1

So for this week, one of the counselors of the mission presidency, President Silva, came to Camiri and gave us a leadership training for the ward counsel and missionaries. It was an excellent training. After talking for about an hour over the new changes that have happened in the world President Silva challenged all of the counsel, in that moment, to go out and bring a family to church for the next day. Our Branch President assigned each member a different family, us as well, and we went out and visited them! We visited 6 families I believe. And every one of them came to church the next day! The chapel was good and full! It was so cool to see the effect we were able to have as a counsel that went out and worked in the Lord´s vineyard. :) It was great to see the fruits of our labor! The counsel is now super excited to be working together and in the way that the Lord wants us to. We´ve seen a ton of progress in just the short month I´ve been here. Since the missionaries that are here now came, the attendance in the chapel has risen from 79 to 135 :) Working with the leaders is so important. They are the heart of a branch or a ward. And the leaders need to work! But the great thing is that the Lord will always help us :)

8/4/14

Here is a picture of a service activity that we had! We use machetes a lot to cut grass and gardens, so I´m an expert now :D haha we also went to the house of the branch President and we chopped down a tree at his house. I don´t have pictures of that though. I love using machetes though, they are tons of fun! haha. So in the picture from left to right is me, our district leader, Elder Iribarra from Chile, President Guzmán, Elder Carabajal from Argentina, and Elder Villegas.

 

Well some of the big things that I´m really focusing on now are, being selfless, or thinking more about others, not being competitive as in, not worrying about my standing or position; essentially getting rid of my pride. Also working hard to accomplish the goals that I have. Being completely converted. That one is trickier. I feel like i´m converted, but that I could still be more. A lot more. I already have a disposition to do good, but now I need the motivation! haha but really I´m working on a lot. :)

Something I´ve really come to see is how much pride and vanity we have in the US.... Everyone wants to take photos of themselves and post them all over the internet or for others to acknowledge something that they have. We always praise others for the prizes they´ve obtained, the talents they have, and not for the effort or hard work we put into it. We don´t praise the values of righteous people, and as such, children don´t want to become people with values and morals. And as such, many many people in this age are perfectionists and have fear of failure. I´ve had such a struggle trying to beat pride out of myself... It´s so hard, because it´s something so natural for us. It´s so hard.  

That sure is good. I loved the letter I got from Greer and Kay, that sure was thoughtful of them :) He wrote me about how Kris was planning and had a goal to be married by October :D Still has the missionary mentality! haha But we are working hard here. I think we are going to have some real progress. When I got here, Elder Villegas had been here only 2 weeks, so we didn´t know anyone!! and it´s been a game of finding new people and finding the old ones as well :D But I think that this cambio we will baptize for sure. And baptize a family :)

Learning about competitiveness

So I´m just in love with soccer. It´s so much fun. Every Pday we go and play, today included. Why didn´t I stick with it as a kid??? haha all´s well though. I´ve also started learning very well how to handle my competitiveness. :) I worked so hard with it before the mission, but it´s still been something i´ve had to work on here. When there is competition, there is pride. So i´m learning how to just play hard, have fun, and be happy. The most important thing really is the relationship that you can make with other people. :) Competitiveness has been so hard. aaaaaaahhhh. :D But i´m trying hard. I´m so hard headed sometimes. haha I hope that I am a different person by the end. That when you guys see me in the future, that I will have gotten rid of many of bad qualities and replaced them with more love, and dedication, and faith. I truly want to serve the Lord with my heart, and that requires that I give to Him all I can, and that I make myself into a worthy servant for Him. Thankfully His servants are wonderful people full of love and service so that´s what I am striving to become. :) I love this Gospel with all my heart. I know that my decisión to be disciple of Christ is not one of only two years, but of a lifetime; of an eternity. Love you all lots, and hope that you pray every day, read scriptures every day, and rededicate your lives, Every day to the Lord. I hope that I will too :) haha Until next week!!

Elder Evenson