December 22 Weekly Update and Pictures

This week was crazy and amazing, with Investigator dinners, Christmas Conference, and new investigators! Wednesday we had dinner with the Riveras, our miracle of church attendance last Sunday! Before we had been thinking of teaching them the plan of Salvation, but once we started eating they had lots of questions about Joseph Smith, so we went instead to the Restoration! Their little girl, Lily, sang "Let It Go" to me for part of it, had me pouring tons of ranch on her plate for another, and then was listening to music on her mom's phone super loud! When we went to share the first vision, though, the music stopped and it was really quiet for a minute, which we were praying for! We are excited to have dinner with them, again!

Wednesday we also went to the doctor again for my knees and I started shock therapy , which made the muscles go crazy! In the morning on our way to Christmas Conference they were hurting and I was nervous to be sitting all day! The spirit was so strong during our meeting, though, that it calmed me down so much that my knees didn't hurt as much! It was so cool! Missionaries were sharing miracles from their mission, and Sister Clegg talked about one miracle of her mission being her companions. It was so sweet and so good to talk to her and catch up with each other and things we heard from Mishawaka!

Something we've really been focusing on is finding people to teach, and yesterday we planned to go to an apartment building down the street from us and tract. For days we prayed to have the faith to find and were reading in Preach My Gospel about finding, and the hour we had to tract Sunday morning we found 3 NEW INVESTIGATORS! It was so exciting! I love tracting, I was so excited to go, and after we found so many people who listened to a Christmas message I got in the car and could hardly contain myself I was so excited! One lady we found was named Adrian and she was such a hoot! They had had a few deaths in the family over the last like 8 months, so they so need the gospel! I am so excited to go see her again, Saturday!! This week our zone found 18 new investigators with the "He is the Gift" and 13 were from our district so we were pretty excited! 

Favorite quotes!

"I like you two! You work well together, you're like fire, and you're like water!" Will Rivera

"Please bless that the boys won't be scared of the girls" Sister Burtzo, referring to her husband and us, the sisters

"It's ok, you've got a while before you need to feed anyone!" Sister Richins, after I picked a wrong salad bowl.

Sister Peel and I in downtown Indy

Sister Clegg and I at the Christmas conference

Dec 15 Weekly Update and Pictures

Hello!

It's been an exciting week with "Why I Believe" meetings and a baptism!

We had a "Why I Believe" meeting yesterday, and it was amazing! They are my favorite, the spirit is always SO STRONG! I love it!! We almost had a recent convert, Jenny Taylor, speak, but she wasn't feeling up to it. We were pretty bummed, but we helped the Elders' convert, Brizeida calm down so she could speak and she did so well! Emory also spoke, who was baptized in Plainfield, last week. Ed spoke in Mishawaka at their "Why I Believe" and is going to send me his testimony since I couldn't be there! I am pretty excited.

Saturday I got to go to a baptism in Plainfield, which is only 25 minutes away from Beech Grove! The baptism was for Adam Nicholas, who was baptized by his brother, Zach, who got the Priesthood that morning! It was super neat and their whole family was there! Timothy had his baptismal interview and will be getting baptized this Saturday or the next, depending on his dad's work schedule! Sister Ostler and Elder Twitchell are great trainers and the missionaries there were doing great!

We also had a way cool miracle, yesterday! We hadn't been able to meet with our progressing investigator, last week, and he wasn't going to be able to go to church so we were kinda bummed, but we got a call Monday morning from Sister Vidmar, who finished her mission in Beech Grove with Sister Peel last transfer, telling us that an investigator family she was friends with on facebook wanted to come to church but had lost our information! We called them really quick and let them know when and where it was, and they came! It was awesome, and the ward was so welcoming! This family we stopped by the other day and they invited us over for dinner but they haven't even been taught the restoration, yet! They are so great!

Sister Lowry, Sister Ostler, me, Tori, and Adam!

Sister Banks who lives next to the elders and takes way too good of care of the missionaries has some intense Christmas decorations!

Favorite quotes!

"You graduated, went to BYU, and then went on a mission? You're like a professional Mormon!" Elder Mortenson

"You look like you play basketball, and you two look like you...like to bake brownies and watch movies" neighbor of Sister Williams, talking to us and the elders while we were putting up Christmas lights

"It's ok, we all have to learn!" Sister Restivo, throwing away my first batch of cookie dough

"Taste this and tell me you're better at cleaning than cooking!" Sister Restivo feeding me cookies while I was washing dishes

"I like those shoes! I've seen them on older women, and I've thought about getting some, but I like them better on you" Beverly, a less active's husband

"Um...ma'ams?" I talked to the uh...gentleman from your church about the car..." guy from the car place after talking to the vehicle coordinator, Elder Smith

Thanks for reading! Have a good week!

Dec 8 Weekly Update and Pictures

Hello from Beech Grove!

This week was pretty crazy and pretty great! At transfer meeting President Cleveland talked about setting goals as new companionships, which my new companion, Sister Peel, and I did part way through my unpacking. We were super excited to set expectations and goals to make this transfer a rocking one! Sister Peel is from Alabama, has been out a transfer less than me, has been in Beech Grove the whole time, and is a very driven missionary!

This week I met and we taught Sister Burtzo several times, who was baptized a year ago and recently went through the temple. She is super amazing! Her son's best friend, Randy, is living with them and progressing toward a baptismal date of January 3rd! They are sweet and Sister Burtzo is always feeding us! 

Friday was the ward Christmas party, which is crazy because just 6 weeks ago I started out in Plainfield with a ward Halloween party! It's much easier to remember names and faces without costumes:). I got to meet a bunch of members this week, one of them being the Sanders. They are such a sweet family and are so humble and generous! We went over to help set up Christmas decorations with them, but they couldn't find any lights for their tree, so we ran to the store with them real quick. It was raining and crazy and we didn't find lights for like three stores, but in one of them we ran into a less active that's not on our records! Her name is Ina, and Sister Peel and her trainer had been trying to get in contact with her for a few months! We got her number and stopped by Saturday! We talked to her about family and prayer and fasting, which was so led by the spirit it was amazing! That was definitely a grace this week!

Sister Ostler and I doing service at the horse ranch our last week together!

Sister Peel and I making cupcakes for little Ricky Taylor's birthday! (He just got baptized, and also, we were matching when we met each other!)

Favorite quotes!

"We're so glad you're cool! We get really nervous every time we get a new missionary!" Jenny Taylor, Recent convert

"You're going to get a sweet new companion! Wait--let me check...ya, she's sweet!" President Cleveland

"Really? Who is it?" Sister Peel

"Is she short, tall?" Sister Vidmar

"Oh, she's tall!" President Cleveland

"Cut bandaid!" Jonathan, Sister Burtzo's grandson

"Everybody loves me!" SIster Peel

"Nuh-uh! Only me and Jesus!" Jonathan

"I know it's the sabbath and all but could we listen to some music?" Elder Diaz

"This is Elder Holland." me

"Wow!...Sister Evans I feel like you're super nice but you could totally hulk someone." Elder Mortenson

"What makes Sister Evans mad? Like what irks you?" Elder Mortenson

"This doesn't really make me mad, but the other day I realized dogs licking bones really grosses me out, like when they chomp on them it's so gross!...Does that count?" me

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

Dec 1 Weekly Update and Pictures

This week was full of a lot, including surprises, and miracles! To start, Sister Ostler and I were looking for a less active we met going to lunch the other day, but couldn't remember her last name or find her from her first name, she was no where to be found on the directory! Friday sister Ostler wasn't feeling well so she laid down for a nap and I was updating the area book when I found a super old teaching record for her! I was showing Sister Ostler after she woke up when she told me that she'd dreamed that we went back to talk to her and she gave her a sticky note with her address but it was blank! We ended up finding her address and going to see her that night, it was so neat!

Another amazing part of this week was the launching of the "He is the Gift" video initiative! We've already found two new investigators and received a member referral and it's only been a few days! One's name is Brian and he has quite the story! He is the neighbor of Brother and Sister Chapman, who just left to Florida for the winter, but went to go meet him with us a couple three weeks ago or something. When he first met us he was pretty excited to show and tell about some anti things he had and other things he'd learned, and was pretty intense! He was telling us how he'd had a mormon girlfriend try to convert him and set him up with missionaries and he would have none of it! At the end Sister Ostler bore her testimony, and he told her of anyone, she came the closest to converting him than anyone had! We had to hurry to dinner, but that Sunday the Chapmans were super excited to tell us what happened after that! About 30 minutes later, Brian went over to the Chapmans and apologized for being rude, and said he wanted to talk more about our beliefs, which he did very civilly. They then had dinner, talking about home teaching and addiction recovery classes, which intrigued him. They invited him to church but he wasn't sure he'd feel welcome, being a Catholic. The other day we went back to see him and he apologized for being rude, was super nice, and we had a great visit with him! He said he felt bad about how closed off he'd been and was praying for God to show him what he should do! He was super chatty, telling us about government conspiracies and churches he had been to in the past, even acting out some pentecostal church scenes in his yard and his neighbors were all staring, oh my, we were dying!! We told him about the Christmas video and set up another appointment with him! Sister Ostler is so going to baptize him!

So the biggest surprise this week was transfer calls! Sister Ostler and I were expecting to both stay, and just get a text Sunday night. We were at Bishop's Saturday night for a ward council party when the elders got a call from President Cleveland, and they told us they were doing transfer calls early, and we should pay attention to our phone! We laughed because we were sure we'd both be staying, but we pulled the phone out and had a missed call from President! We hurried and went in a quiet room to sit down and called him back. He said Sister Ostler was staying and training a new missionary, and I would be leaving but staying close to Physical Therapy! We were blown away! Luckily I'll probably be able to come back for our baptisms coming up!

Thanksgiving with the Meachams and Tori!

Thanksgiving at Tori's grandma's house!

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favorite quotes!

"That was probably part of Satan's plan!" Sister Ostler, referring to confusing patterns in last names, while doing family history

"I am patient! I'm just trying to teach him how to drive!" Brother Brown to Sister Brown as they were driving us home from physical therapy

"I pick the sisters" Tori picking teams for "Bigger Better Best" at mutual

"Ok! Can we go to the bathroom now?" me

"Hoping you had a peaceful day" me, reading a text from Brenda

"A feasible day?" Sister Ostler

"No, a peaceful day!" me

"March 15th is the day!" Brian predicting the fail of the money system

"That's 2 days before my birthday!" Sister Ostler

"We better get your birthday shopping done early, then!" me

"I love you, sister Evans, even your low 5s are peppy!" Sister Ostler

"Hope you had a feasible day!" Tori

thanks for reading, have a great week and WATCH "HE IS THE GIFT" IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!!

christmas.mormon.org!!