3-14-2011
Family!
I was incredibly surprised to hear that Elder D. sent you a letter, but then at the same time not. That is a very Elder D. thing to do :) All missionaries should do that. Actually, all missionaries should just try to be a little more like him. I’ll send him your thanks when I get the chance.
I just barely heard about the Tsunami this week and that was from other people just passing comments about it back and forth. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have the gospel in my life but I'm sure you probably feel the same. One day this last week I just kind of sat there and realized how blessed I have been to be born into the gospel. How was I so blessed with that opportunity? As a missionary you hear and really come to understand that there are a lot of different opinions and beliefs out there. That is obvious of course but the magnitude of that becomes more evident I think. To then be blessed with the gospel in all of that mess is a miracle I think.
I promise I'm not discouraged! It is just tough when you have to teach your best investigator the same principle about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon every week because he can't find time to do it. And when the missionaries have been meeting with this guy for about 6 months. He still hasn't prayed to find out if it's true. Maybe I'm just impatient, but I think if you really want something I think you make time to give it some attention. That is just the general attitude with all our investigators, potentials and just Germany I think. Which is why I said what I said last week. But that faith and hope is not gone! Thank you for the words of encouragement. It's nice to know that these feelings are normal.
Transfer calls are at the end of this week. Meaning next email you will know if I am staying or leaving. After last cycle, anything could happen. There is the potential that Elder C. could leave and I would take over the area. That worried me in Erfurt as much as it does here. I think that relationship that Elder C. has with most members and some of our investigators is just not there for me yet. But! we do what we have to do and take it as it comes. I'm really excited for this week because I think we can unlock the potential we have here. If not, then we will learn from that as well. I don't want to burn myself out in the first 6 months. But I think that is the general attitude of the mission. At least the sense I get from ZoKos. Not complaining but merely stating a fact. I don't think that the Lord wants us to drive ourselves crazy or just be unhappy. But maybe I'm rationalizing! I'll figure it out.
I think I will just get into a better habit of writing J. Starting today! Does J get to see my emails at all?
My Pez really says Dead Men Tell no Tales. Maybe that was a mistake on the designer’s part.
Question: So towards the beginning of my mission I heard that eccos, like mine, over time would start to crack on the soles of the shoes. Sure enough mine have started to do that. But I know there is also a warranty or something with the shoes. You can take a picture, send it in, and get a new pair. Is that so? It's not too much of a problem now but I have noticed the splits starting to get bigger. Brother W from the MTC called his eccos like fortune telling shoes or something because they told him when the ground was wet. If anything I can probably get some super glue or something. But I was just wondering if that warranty is still there.
We talked to this one guy yesterday (there are a lot here). He kept repeating himself saying that he doesn't believe any prophets came after a certain time. We kept repeating ourselves that this book, the Book of Mormon, is a record of prophets around this time frame that he was describing. He himself said that he believed in all of the prophets around this time and so when the time frame of the B of M was finally in his head he looked confused. He said he was going to do some research on this book so we gave him the right address before he could find something anti-Mormon. Once he finds out we have a prophet today he'll freak and also that we believe Christ was the Son of God. But, it is those random conversations like that, which make my day. We have quite a few of those actually. Simple pleasures in life. Like knocking on a door, hearing the person press themselves against the door to look through the peephole, then moaning and groaning telling us to go away. I'm glad that stuff like that doesn't get me down. That actually makes me laugh.
Well! Time to go. Thanks for the love and the support and the prayers. I pray for you all as well and can't tell you how grateful I am to be blessed with such a family. Love you!
Tschüss!
Elder Evan
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