Week #5 Looking for service opprotunities

Hallo meine Famile und meine Freunden. Ich bin glucklich dass ich kann zu sie heute schrieben. 

Translation(And my grammar may be bad): Hello my family and my friends! I am happy that I can write to you today. 

Anyway, I hope you guys are doing okay. I am feeling great! Looking back on these five weeks kind of blows my mind. I feel like I just left but it has also seems like forever ago. I have learned a lot and am grateful that the Lord put me here and is sending me to the Alpinelandische mission. It has been a growing week but I have learned that with time, the Lord provides. 

First of, my flight plans changed. Don't worry. It is not drastic. We are leaving on Monday so I have one less day here at the MTC! Yes!!!! I mean, it is great but it is time to go to the field. The routine is driving me crazy. So yeah, I leave on Monday at 6 am London time so about 11 pm Utah time. Kind of crazy to think about but I do not let myself ponder on it too much. 

The Pageant was a marvelous testimony to me that the gospel is blessing all of the Earth and all generations of life. Imagine the sacrifices that the early Saints made for us and how many blessings we have received from them. I loved being part of the finale; the Spirit was there every time. The thing is that it wasn't about the missionaries. It was always about the Savior. He is our All. That's the great message of the gospel. Our best support is Jesus Christ. 

https://youtu.be/iZ65u9ek_fc  (Here is a link to the pageant finale when the missionaries come in, look for him at about 55second mark then follow him down to the stage) 

I have had a few service opportunities at the Pageant. One lady asked if I could push her daughter up the hill in her wheelchair. In order to get to the theater, you have to come down a hill but you also have to come back up. The hill was steep and I could tell the mom could not push the wheelchair on her own. The daughter has special needs and it was a tender moment for me to be able to help in a time of need. Another opprotunity was with Darin. Darin has been coming around to the missionaries after the Pageant giving them hugs and complimenting them. He also has special needs but his spirit is so bright! Anyway, he asked me for a blessing the other day so I took him to the church and gave him a blessing. It was those small moments of service that really made my week. 

The lady who asked me to push her daughter up the hill showed up the next day
 and gave me a BIG candy bar to say thank you :)

The German is going okay. I have learned a lot but I still make a ton of mistakes though. It is still fun though. When I try to teach in English, it doesn't feel as good. But when I teach in German, the words come and I feel the Spirit a lot more. It is a weird feeling but I can tell the Lord approves when his servants follow their call. 

We met with the Walkers, former president and wife of the MTC years ago. Sister Walker is President Hinckley's oldest daughter. It was so cool to hear their story and to hear more about President Hinckley. It reminded me how much I loved that wonderful prophet even though I was young. Afterwards, I talked to them and they own the Abbington! (an Assisted Living center near our home in Mapleton) Well, they are part of the ownership. They even know President Mills. That was pretty cool. 

A quick spiritual moment if that is okay. We were teaching Florian in the lobby and talking to him about the third lesson. He was kind of getting distracted and all of the sudden, it was starting to rain. It rained hard. Kind of the England thing to happen, right? Anyway, my first thought was "No! Now, he will be more distracted." But the Spirit whispered me to take advantage of the rain. I asked Florian if he thought the rain and nature in general was cool. He said yeah. I told him that everything outside in nature testifies of God. All of it testifies of his power and his love for us. Rain, Trees, People, Animals. All of it. It reminded me of the scripture from Alma 30 when Alma confronts Korihor. "All things denote there is a God." What a powerful but simple truth! Coming on the mission has made me look around more to see how God has blessed my life. And he definitely has. Even a simple rainfall can testify that God really does exist and knows all. 

Hope you guys have a wonderful week! Next time I write to you, I could be in Germany. I will let you know where my first area is and all of that cool stuff. Love you all! Stay strong and be happy!

Elder Evans 

England MTC missionaries group #2 with President and Sister Bunker

(Mason is top left with red tie)