Word from Wesel - Monday, February 21, 2011

I kind of wondered about Wesel and the war. There is a church near our place that you can tell has an older foundation than what is built on top of it. While they may have blown up the bridges over the Rhein in the war, they were able to find time to build new ones because we cross them quite frequently to get to other cities in our Area. The thing with Wesel is that we have a lot of area to cover so if we don`t plan our time well we can waste a lot of it just in traveling. When we go to Kleve for the day, we often run into people who can`t speak german or english because they are from Holland. A lot of people live in Germany because it is cheaper but then work and go to school in Holland. Such is the case with one member family who is in our area but doesn`t go to our ward. Because we are so close to Holland we actually have access to those waffle like things that they eat in the best 2 years. Awesome!

We had an encounter the other day with someone we met a couple days ago on the street who told us we could keep in contact with him. This time he was in a conversation with some Zeugen Jehovas or Jehovas Witnesses. I think it was a sign that we need to focus on this guy. After he left we got into a conversation with them which of course went back and forth between different interpretations of scriptures.. It was friendly but still a waste of time. For man to say that one thing is right and the other is wrong is extremely arrogant and just immpossible. That is why we need to ask God! Some people just don`t understand or can`t accept that our Heavenly Father is the source of all truth. Blah! It frustrates me.

Well. I`m doing well. I have a little bit of a head cold but kein problem. I should get that package tomorrow at ZoKo. Yay! Thanks for everything!

Love

Elder Evan

Word from Wesel - Friday, February 18, 2011

Well I don't know what to tell you! As you have already figured out, we didn't have pday this last Monday (the 14th) because of a 3 day training meeting for like half the mission. So we have pday today. That explains the last email. As for the previous Monday (the 7th), sounds like you didn't get that one so I will paste it after I finish this paragraph. It might have been the internet cafe we were using. I was having all sorts of trouble sending email because of the bad connection or something. Or could be something else... who knows! But here is last week (the 7th):

To answer your first question, for some reason gmail had trouble sending you an email. So what it would do is try and then wait a day to send itself again if it didn't work. I got a warning email saying that it would keep trying to send it. I don't know what the deal was but it has nothing to do with me having favorites. I promise!

I'm sorry to hear about B, but it sounds like it is for the best. Give her a hug for me or something!

I did get that card from A. Thanks A! I actually got it the day I moved out of Usingen into Wetzlar. 'Just lucky I guess.' Even if it had come later it would have been no problem since I see the Elders from my district so often. There are McDonalds' here and it was more than enough. I am very grateful :)

AW got his call! Awesome.

I look forward to the package! Usually ZoKo is the third week in the cycle. Today is the first day of the new cycle so I should only be without it for a couple weeks. Probably the best thing to do would be to send everything to the mission office. I think the simple letters are ok to send to my actual address but something of value should be sent to the mission office. I don't think I'll be transferred for a while, unless I'm bound to just hop around the mission for the whole two years.

Transfer calls came this morning. So lets see. I started in Erfurt and had two companions there. Then I was blitzed to Usingen to work with two other elders. Then I was blitzed into Wetzlar (luckily the same district) to work with someone else. And now with the new cycle... (drum roll)... I am being transferred to Wesel? I think that is how you spell it. I will be working with Elder Cu. My first day is on Wednesday. Within my first three months in the field I will have had 4 areas and 6 assigned companions. Elder Co had 4 areas in his entire mission. I am sad to see him go - he and Elder L. I'm just sad to leave this district actually. We all got along really well. Also, es passiert!

So I was on a split with my old comp Elder M on Friday and we had a really cool experience doing finding time. We had the option to go either to this one dorf or to stay in Usingen to knock doors. We couldn't decide so we prayed about it. Elder M said a prayer then I said a prayer. Neither of us had any overwhelming urge to go to either place but I just felt like Usingen was the right place and Elder M agreed. Thinking about this small dorf just felt wrong I guess. So we stayed in Usingen and knocked out some doors. Naturally, the last door we klingled on let us in. This younger Muslim man who thought it was uncharitable to turn us away. We prayed with him and told him a little bit about what we do and what we believe. He told us what he believed but was way cool about it and was all like, 'correct me if I'm wrong but this is what I think.' In general, just way open and way receptive to the spirit. He told us about all these spiritual experiences he has had and that he knows God is there and cares about him. It was so cool! Elder M was shaking from how strong he felt the spirit. You could just tell that this guy knew what was up. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read it with an open mind and he was like 'of course, of course!' It was so cool. He described this dream to us he had after he had come to a point in his life where he realized he needed to know if God was there or not. He told us then that he prayed and prayed and prayed. Then he had this dream one night where he saw this man in middle eastern robes or something but he couldn't see his face because he was radiating this bright light and it was impossible to look in his face. He described this feeling of joy and peace being the most overwhelming thing he has ever experienced before. This man in his dream was holding out this box to him that had a book in it. He didn't really know what the book was and at this point in the story he had gone off into how crazy the feeling was that he felt. We knew that it was the spirit he had felt because we could feel it as he was telling us this story. He thinks the middle eastern dressed man was Muhammed and I think maybe for him it was important that he thought it was Muhammed. I don't really know, but maybe God answered his prayer in a way that was familiar to him or maybe he just interpreted that way. Elder M thinks the book he was describing was the Book of Mormon. Maybe, I don't know. It was just a really cool experience. If he is that receptive to the spirit, as long as he stays open minded I think he could find out that it is true. I always thought working with people of Muslim faith would be difficult. I won't see him again probably but I've asked Elder M to keep me updated.

Alles gute bei mir! Vielen dank für ihre liebe!

Love

Elder Evan

This is this week (my Friday pday on the 18th):

For a little over a week now I've been in Wesel which is in the Düsseldorf zone, my third zone already. My district here is way different from the last. Not bad just different. Instead of quoting Star Wars in German everyone quotes their favorite conference talks. Instead of inside jokes about triple high bunkbeds, panzarattis and deep fried twinkies everyone jokes about different scripture references to use in certain teaching situations. I feel a little lost in this district but maybe that is a sign I need to grow up or something? I don't know. They are all way awesome missionaries and I look forward to working with them more. I was kind of sad because one of the Elders (Elder A) who I roomed with in the MTC left this district as I came in. But I'm sure I will see him some other time.

My new companion, Elder Cu, has been out a little over a year. I don't know really what else to say about him other than he is pretty awesome and knows his stuff. There is no messing around with him. We tried to teach this lesson yesterday to a guy who thinks he has it all figured out. He thinks there is no point in this life if we just come in to this life and then die which is why it is then necessary that we are reincarnated. He says he can remember back on 4 of his previous lives and that there he didn't have his wife or his aquarium. I thought that was pretty funny :) But then he said we didn't need bodies and that there is no point to having a body. Elder Cu was like, 'Doch! Wir brauchen einen körper!' He threw out all of these reasons but this guy had made up his mind so we just kind of left it at that. It was a pretty intense appointment. Sometimes it comes to a point where you have to realize that there is no teaching some people and that you need to get out of there before it turns into a bible bash of sorts.

I think the biggest lesson I've learned this week is that faith without works is dead. One thing I'm always asking myself is if I really have faith that I can find someone or do I just have wishful thinking? I was back in a drit for three days during this training thing and this other Elder we were with would just talk to everyone that he saw. And I mean everyone. All the people I would have thought would have been awkward to talk to at that given time he talked to them anyway. We got 7 new contacts/potential investigators that day which is way, way, way above average here in Germany. It was amazing to me. I think we show the Lord that we have faith that there are people ready to teach when we do everything in our power to find. We have to show that we are willing to work for it and come part of the way if the Lord is going to help us with the rest.

Question: Could you ask the Elders in your ward if they have a hard time finding a joint teach or if that is ever an issue? I'm just curious to hear what they say.

I'm just really excited to be here :) I love this gospel! I really feel sorry for all the people who reject it. Just give it a try I say. I don' t have a lot of time today to talk but thanks for the love, support and prayers.

I still have Pday on Monday! Don't forget to write.

Love,

Elder Evan

No Monday P-Day :(

Monday, Feb. 14,2011

Sorry to be the one to tell you this but P-Day will not be today. That means not the usual email. We have p-day on friday this week so you will get two emails fairly close to each other. We could have it on thursday but most likely friday. Talk to you soon!

Elder Evan

Word From Who Knows Where? 2-7-2011

From Mom -
     Remember those erratic emails I mentioned in the last post?  Well, they still are!  Erratic I mean.  This week to my delight, Evan's email arrived on Monday morning, the usual day and time.  Imagine my disappointment when I opened the email and it turned out to be the exact same email that I had received the week before.  After checking on missionary moms (a website that connects mothers with sons/daughters serving in the same missions), I discovered that similar problems are occurring with other parents emails as well.  And, in fact, it doesn't appear to be isolated to the Germany Frankfurt Mission.  The same issues are happening with others as well.  Im guessing that it's an ldsmail.net thing, since all missionary emails go through them.  All I can say is that I hope the situation is fixed soon, where or whatever it's coming from.  It's a real bummer waiting for news that doesn't arrive!  I'm still hoping that a new email may arrive this week.  If nothing else, it would be nice to know which city our Elder is actually in.  Wetzlar may have been temporary, since regular transfers were coming up.  This young man sure is getting bounced around.  Oh well, I guess that just adds to the adventure and to the number of people he can share missionary experiences with.  Anyway, when I do hear something new, I'll be sure to post it here.  In the meantime, we did receive a package from Evan on the 4th of February.  He had sent it the first week of December intending for us to get it for Christmas - ha! ha!  He must have sent the package super, super, slow, snail mail!  It mostly contained German chocolate bars.  One bar for each member of the family including his nieces and nephew!  They were very yummy - BTW!  Much to our delight, the package also contained an SD card with more pictures from the mission.  I'll try to get some of them posted here soon.  

Blitzed Again! - Word From Wetzlar 2-2-2011

From Mom -
     Emails have been erratic in the last couple of weeks.  It's very frustrating!  The last normal email we received from Elder Peterson was on Jan.24th, which I posted here as usual.  The following week on Monday, Jan.31st (his normal p-day), we didn't receive an email.  Now, mind you, that in itself wouldn't be so unusual.  There could have been conferences, computers down, transfers, any number of things that would explain the lack of word from my son.  However, his sister H got an email that day. The bugger! And I know my boy.  He knows that mom comes first (at least until he acquires a wife) and that won't be happening any time soon!  So where was my weekly contact that I so look forward to?!!  As I continued to faithfully (ok - neurotically) check my emails, I continued to be disappointed.  I don't pretend to know how so many generations of mothers (pre-internet), managed to wait to hear from their missionaries via snail mail.  Ugh!  Of course, it doesn't help that I have absolutely NO patience!  Finally, about 2 or 3 days later we received our email.  YAY!  Here it is - - -

2-2-2011

Well, I got blitzed again. This time I get to stay within the same district. I must say that I a really liked Usingen. Now I am in Wetzlar with Elder H. He's a Wiener and when I say that I mean he is from Austria. I still get to see the Usingen Elders every once and a while and our ward is just as solid here. Elder H works a little different. He is not a fan of knocking on doors because it is not nearly as effective as gaining the trust of the members and the investigators that we have. The theory behind this is that you show them that missionaries are normal people and that we have personalities that maybe click with people they know, meaning more referrals! That is the theory. I don't mind trying new things as I want to learn what is effective. I hope it is not just an excuse to get out of doing the other forms of missionary work. Maybe I just have MTC drilled into my brain which was all about Find Find Find. This will be a new experience for sure and I welcome it. Assuming I stay in Wetzlar instead of being transferred with the new cycle I will have a new address. We got a new apartment that we still need to move into. This crazy guy the floor below us hates us so we get to move into a nicer apartment. I'm just spoiled as a new missionary I guess. Right now I am living out of my bags because there really is no point in unpacking at this point. We should get transfer calls this upcoming Sunday so I will be ready for whatever. Oh yeah! The reason for the blitz: An Elder in our district who was actually in my group went home because he had some sleeping problems. Not to harp on him but we all know it was because he had a girlfriend back home and he was looking for a way to get out. He was a good guy, the mission just wasn't for him I guess. But, with another Elder gone there was no more need for the drit so it died. With the end of the cycle we will lose two of my favorite Elders - Elders C and L. I really don't want them to go home because I look up to them a lot.

I can't believe it is February already. I'm ready for like March or April but time is going pretty fast. J will have been out a year come next month. That is crazy! I don't want my whole life to go by this fast. I'm glad there is something like eternity to look forward to. We talked to this lady in Erfurt one time about her family and she said her family meant everything to her but she would not see them after this life because there was nothing after this life. How depressing is that? What is the point? Anyways...

My district and I got stuck in an elevator. The fire department came to break us out and everything. It was pretty fun. There were seven of us chilling in this glass elevator that had barely left the ground and all these people walking by were staring at us. Elder M was outside calling our ZL's and his GML (Gemeinde Missions Leiter) to tell them how funny it was. Whatev.

Eating appointments are different from family to family. We were at this one that went really fast because the Dad was like, 'You need to use your time well!' Which I would agree with. Then we were at this other one where the family didn't want us to leave and they were like, 'You can stay longer, please!' As missionaries you can tell when your stay is over welcomed and when it is time to go. Just feed missionaries food that is safe but also different. Different because I don't know how many times I have eaten Knudeln, Rot Kraut and Gulasch. Not that it is bad, but you see it a lot. We had Burritos at this family's house that wanted us to stay a long time. That was an excellent safe but different meal in Germany. And simple! Simple is key. Missionaries are just grateful to have free food.

I'm still finishing up my journal I had when I entered the MTC and have another full one that you gave me for my b-day. Should last me a while. I promise I write everyday and I get way detailed with the most mundane things even. Probably because I appreciate the mundane moments the most.

I had a question. I know the region code for DVDs is different from here than in the US. But I heard that you can do several different encodes or something on a computer's dvd drive or software or something. Do you think Dad could do a google search or something on that for me if it is not too much trouble? If it is true then I might come home with some German films.

I'm doing well. Good luck with the pool! And I'm proud of you mom for being diligent in your swimming and soon cycling! Love you all!

Tschüss!

Elder Evan