Week #4 British Pageant and Elder Ballard

Man what a week! It has definitely been a crazy week and I have learned a lot, about myself and the Lord. German is hard but I have never been so excited to learn. I have developed more love for the people in my mission and for those around me. The work here is hard but very rewarding.

Okay, on Wednesday, we had new missionaries come in. Our old friends from when we first got here are gone but we were excited to see some newcomers. We had a new Elder join our district, Elder Neighbor. He loves drama and music. He is a great guy. He was originally in the native district but he is American. Our teacher assessed him and said he was not good enough for the native district. Nothing against him, he is just not a native. He still got assigned there anyway. And it only took a couple hours for them to find out he needs more time than three weeks. Natives get 3, we get 6. He is a great guy but it looks like he could be here for nine weeks because of the transfer timeline. Glad to have him in our district but sadly he is going to Frankfurt, not Alpine.

The Alma District

Another thing that happened Wednesday is that we changed district leaders. The assignment moves every three weeks or half of a transfer. Well, the assignment got moved to me. I am excited to be able to help my district where I can. It is a weird feeling to be the leader of our group but with the Lord, it will be just fine. 

We had a meeting with Elder Ballard this week and it was incredible. We had a couple of speakers before him and the main message was remember why we are serving. It is not about us. It is about those seeking the truth and helping them find it. At the end, we sang "I Know that my Redeemer lives" and it was awesome! The Spirit was so strong. I felt God's love for me but also the love he had for all His children. At the end,as Elder Ballard was leaving, he told a story about a kid who called his grandpa after Elder Ballard presided over their stake conference. "Grandpa, guess what? We heard from an old fossil today." Just the way he delivered the story and the line itself was classic. I loved meeting him. I got to shake his hand at the beginning of the meeting. All of the missionaries did. Quite a sight to see all of them and quite a sound to hear them all sing. 

The Pageant is so fantastic! It is a musical about missionary work and just the hope that is in the Gospel. You realize what an impact the missionaries had in England and the gospel had on the descendants of those early Saints.I ran into one of Landon's co-workers at Orange Peel who is serving in Manchester. I forgot his name but he came up to me and said, "Which twin are you?" Yeah, that has not happened in awhile:)

I wanted to tell a quick spiritual thought. President Bunker shared with us a good lesson on Sunday that had an impression on me. First of all, the Bunkers are wonderful people. They are so kind and express a lot of interest in us. The lesson was about Joseph Smith. Joseph had a poor family so he had to work for several jobs to help. His brother Alvin died so Joseph had to do extra work. Joseph went to a silver mine search and it failed. All this hardship and what did it teach him? Well, the hard work prepared him for service in the church. The death of his brother sparked questions within him about salvation for the dead which would lead to powerful revelation. The silver mine failure would teach him about failure but also give him a bad reputation. He would learn to deal with unfairness and gossip. Most importantly, the whole of it lead him to meet his wife Emma. Now backtrack to four years earlier when he saw the Gold plates for the first time. He tried to take the plates but was told he was not ready. Those next four years would lead him through life lessons and to one of his biggest supports (Emma) in restoring the church. The point is that the Lord knows what he is doing. Joseph needed that experience to prepare him for bigger things. That is the same for us. May we trust the Lord's hand in our lives. 

Well, that is all. I hope you guys are doing well and enjoying life. Make every moment worth its while!

Love, 

Elder Evans 

A silly selfie full of Elders 

Elder Keir and me

A silly meme about Missionary Work (That is Elder Keir on the ground) 

Elder Keir's parents (from Scotland) were able to attend the British Pageant last Saturday.  They sent some pictures to me (mom) and a sweet message about Mason.    Below is a picture of them with of the Kiers with the Alma district and above is the one of the ones they sent to me of Mason with Elder Keir.