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!!

November 17 Weekly Update and Pictures

Hello again! It's been quite the week!

This week we received and taught a referral from the White River Elders named Antonio who is amazing!! His friend was living in Indy, where the Elders found and were teaching him. The friend moved to Georgia, and he actually lives in our area, so that's some of the back story. He is super chatty, and Brother Baumgartner who we brought with us could hardly stop talking to him! It was a Hoosier lesson! He was already reading the Book of Mormon, though, and when we invited him to baptism he was so excited! He called his friend to tell her he was getting baptized soon and would let her know when he was put on a date! AHH he is so ready!!

Adam, Zach's brother, got approval from his parents for his baptism to be December 13th!! We are still working with Timothy but are so excited about how excited Timothy is! We also were able to get a Book of Mormon to an investigator that is super hard to get a hold of and have finally been able to set up appointments with her! I think she is going to progress really quick!

I got to call Ed this week and we were so excited! He is doing so well! He told me about how he had born his testimony in church and even wrote President Cleveland about how much the gospel and Sister Clegg and I meant to him, he is amazing! When we had interviews this week with President I told him about it and he was so excited to read the letter! Interviews were so great, I am so grateful for President Cleveland! Him being my mission president was definitely inspired!

One tender mercy we saw this week was one day Sister Ostler got a migraine that was much worse than most that she gets, and was having a hard time driving, but our dinner that night was with a member who is a nurse, and she let us come over early so Sister Ostler got to lay down and get feeling a little better. We also had a member drop us off a bunch of cuties and a card when we were feeling a little overwhelmed, and it made our day! Also, today I went to Physical Therapy which was pretty exciting! Hopefully I'll be in and out in 4 weeks!

One of my favorite scriptures this week is 3 Nephi 13:24 because all we need to do is take life one day at a time and trust in our Heavenly Father! He is so caring and loving he takes care of what we cannot!

FHE at a member's house with Tori (recent convert) Marina (member), Emory (investigator), Zach (recent convert) Austin (investigator)

The first snow that stuck (and first snowball fight!)

Favorite Quotes!

"Baptize nations with this!" Elder Buchanon during a training in Zone Meeting

"I wanna baptize the President!" Sister Ostler

"President Cleveland is already baptized!...oh wait..." me

"How old are you, Sister Evans?" Elder Mills

"5 Months!" me

"No, how old are you?

"Oh...19" me

"Oh life saving day! There are ear muffs in here!" Sister Ostler

"It looks so warm but feels so cold it's like so facade-ish!" Sister Ostler

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Have a great week! Thanks for reading!

November 10 Weekly Update and Pictures

It's been another eventful week!

First off, we had a baptism!! His name is Zach and he is 17, and his parents were converted and baptized years ago. He is a senior and now preparing for a mission, and is so excited about the gospel! There were tons of people there to see his parents who haven't been to church in a while, and it was great! Zach's brothers, Adam and Timothy, are a hoot! We went by last night for the parents to sign the baptismal record and they talked our legs off, we barely got out in an hour! We talked about finding answers through fasting and prayer, camping, trick or treating, and many other things, and it was a great time.

We taught JoAnn again, who we found before District Meeting last week and she already knows the Book of Mormon is true! She is 85 and Methodist, though, and before we could invite her to baptism told us she doesn't want to change. Hopefully we're taking her on a church tour today and the spirit will keep working on her--along with us and the members, of course:)

We had a pretty exciting experience the other day when we were short on miles and getting rides from a ward missionary, Sister Chapman! We were at her house looking for addresses of less actives we were going to visit when her husband came home and was telling us about their neighbor, Brian, who was very religious. He said we should go talk to him, before deciding he wanted to go with us right then! We went over to Brian's house, and when he saw we were Mormons had a lot to say about how he felt about our beliefs! He went on and on and we were starting to freeze, but we listened and waited until we could bare our testimonies. After we did, he said we'd come closest to converting him than anyone ever had.
On Sunday the Chapmans were very excited to update us! They said a half hour later, Brian ran over to their house to talk to them about their beliefs, and did so in a very civil way, until Brother Chapman said he needed to get going to do some Home Teaching, which Brian was curious about. They talked about home teaching, and how he taught the addiction recovery class and Brian thought it was so cool! He ended up having dinner with them and they invited him to church! He was worried he wouldn't be allowed to come in as a Catholic, but we invited him on a church tour which we'll hopefully be taking him on today! Crazy story, right??

Last week I also went to the doctor, which I was pretty nervous for! We were in the waiting room and I was getting more and more nervous when I got the prompting to just read until I was called back. I only got to read a couple verses about the Nephites being taxed by the Lamanites, but the spirit was overwhelming and so comforting! It strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon so much! After a blessing of a visit we found out I have Patella Femoral Syndrome, IT Band Syndrome, and Patella Tendonitis, which we will be treating with Physical Therapy. The spirit stayed with me the rest of the day and continued bringing comfort, and hope, which was amazing! I sure love the gospel!

Us with Zach!

Sister Olsen, Sister Ostler's previous companion and my MTC companion got to come to the baptism! Here we are with her and Tori, their recent convert of a few weeks ago

Favorite Quotes!

​"I like your jacket--it's pretty and awkward" Tori

"I think we should give frozen hot chocolate to girls that wear short skirts and Uggs" Elder Clark

"They just need me, the spider whisperer--I just whisper before tours and they leave the font" Sister Ostler

Thanks for reading! Have a good week!!

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Hello! Crazy week report time!

One highlight of this week was going to see an investigator named Chris. We were getting ready to leave the apartment and Sister Ostler asked how the Halloween cookies looked that we were gifted, and they were a little sad and crumbly, but she kept looking. She was looking around at our treats, asking if we could take some of my muffins to her, and I was so confused what was going on. We put together a bag of candy and left. When we knocked on her door she said she hadn't been feeling well and was living on Gatorade, when we gave her the bag of candy she was so excited! I was so excited about the lesson plan we'd made for her and inviting her to baptism, but because she was sick I felt like we could at least share a scripture with her, though I wasn't even sure which one until I opened up to Mosiah. We shared one about the atonement and invited her to baptism. ON HER PORCH WHILE SHE WAS SICK. It was crazy, but the spirit was amazing! She was telling us about how she had been baptized and received the holy ghost before, when we were talking about it she practically quoted scripture when she was saying how she thought it was so silly everyone debates about how to be baptized, "Just do it like Jesus!!" she said.

We also talked to some amazing families this week! One we found trying to find the house of a less active, and they had dinner burning and kids running around like crazy but we shared like a five second message about modern day prophets and the anchor that they can provide families in such a changing world and they seemed really interested! Once we found the less active she said she'd be having a barbecue and inviting them over, soon! On another door we knocked we talked to this 14 year old girl who said her family had been looking for a church and kept making this face like she couldn't believe we were there when they were looking for a church, which was way cool! We got to try them the next day when she said her parents would be home, but talked to another sister who was going to college and super busy. We shared a scripture with her about continually reading and enduring to the end and it was so sweet she said she was excited for her mom and sisters to learn more about our message, because of the great experience they were about to have. She said that!!

This week we taught Adam and Timothy the restoration with their dad who works on Sundays but was baptized years ago. The first vision was amazing with them, they all felt the spirit so strongly, and the dad was in tears! We invited them to baptism, and Adam said yes, and wanted to meet every day until he learned all the lessons to be baptized. Timothy was more hesitant, but we helped resolve some concerns in our lesson after church, yesterday. Since then they've been to church, scouts, and reading the Book of Mormon! Hopefully their parents will agree on a baptismal date of December 13th!

We also got to go to a fireside called "Why I Believe" last night, which was amazing! Tori, who was baptized maybe a month ago, was one of the speakers and did so well, we were so proud! There was an amazing spirit there with so many recent converts and missionaries super excited about the gospel! It was also fun to see some missionaries I have worked with before.

it was a sunny day and we weren't wearing coats!!

We borrowed rakes from a member and left a note (John 13:34-35) with a potential after raking her yard. There are SO many leaves in Indiana! In parts of Plainfield there is a service where the city picks up the leaves if they are raked out to the street!

Favorite quotes!

"I'm really sore here!" Sister Ostler
"Maybe too many high fives?" me
"But I never high five with this hand!" Sister Ostler

"I see you put Jesus on your car" Tori, after we taped Mormon.org cards in our window

"Good luck with your harvest!" me

"Do you get to watch church produced films like Napoleon Dynamite?" member daughter

Thanks for reading! Have a good week!!

October 27 Weekly Update and Pictures

What a week! I probably say that too much, but it was a pretty wild week!

Last week in Mishawaka, teaching the Eskridges was amazing! We went back to teach Tyler and Ashlynn and got to teach another granddaughter, Mckenna! Her mom, Tabitha Lynn, is less active and dating a nonmember. We took them on a church tour but they weren't too interested, and didn't want to talk to us much. She came in but was fine letting us teach her daughter! Hopefully the new sisters will be able to keep the momentum going and have a few baptisms! Dennis was pretty sad we were being double transfered and took us to dinner with his daughter, which was super fun! She ended up liking us more than Dennis thought she would, which was great! He said he's still working on his testimony so he can be baptized, which we are still invited to:)

NOW I'M IN PLAINFIELD!! Not exactly Indy, but super close! My companion is Sister Ostler, who is from Preston, Idaho, and even made a celebrity debut in Napoleon Dynamite! She's been out for 6 months, and was just companions with Sister Olsen, my MTC companion! We have so many things in common it is crazy. 

One super cool experience we had was tracting before district meeting--we had just a few minutes but we wanted to go! We stopped on one street and prayed, but both felt like trying a different street, and ended up both feeling like we should stop at the one next to it. We were getting out of the car when we saw a lady in one house looking at us so we went and taught her. She was a sweet little old lady named JoAnn who we shared the Book of Mormon story with and she loved it! I thought her eyes were going to pop out when we showed her the painting of Christ visiting the Americas and told her about 1 Nephi 11. It was so neat, and we have a return appointment with her this week! 

We also had a 24 hour exchange with a 17 year old recent convert of 2 weeks, which was way cool! Her name is Tori and she reminds me of Nora, she is so great! We took her tracting and she was so excited she wants to go on a mission like right now! She bore testimony with us and it was such a unique and fun experience! At the end of the day she was saying how she was struggling with her family but being able to serve made her feel so good! 

Last night we had dinner with a part less active family, the Hacklers, who are originally from Utah, and we finally figured out Sister Hackler, formerly Sister Betten, were both in the North Salt Lake Parkway Stake and went to girls camp together! We reminisced of faith walks, the siren alarms, crafts in the lodge, and other fun things, it was so fun! We became great friends, it was so great and it made me so excited to build relationships with all the ward members!

There were a lot of pictures this week...prepare yourself...

me, sister Hoffheins, Sister Clegg, Sister Warner, and Sister Blacker, my step sister, step mom, step grandma, and step great grandma!

Sister Ostler and me! Yes, I did cut my hair again, but I had some super cool gospel conversations with the hair cutter lady, Trista!

Favorite quotes!

"So everyone in Idaho is named after Potatoes?" Dennis, referring to Mikesell potato chips and Sister Clegg

"I heard that knock and I was like 'here comes Satan'" Sister Ostler, when JoAnn's son came in part way through the lesson and didn't want to hear about the Book of Mormon--luckily she still did and even stuck up for prophets! It was pretty sweet!

"Tori you should go invite him to church!" Sister Ostler

"You guys suck!" Tori

"We suck? We taught you the gospel!" Sister Ostler

"and then the gospel was restored, just like your car!" me

"I think my hair grows faster than it dries..." me

Love you all, have a great week!