Week #65 Taking upon the name of Christ

Hey everyone! Well this week was great over here in Vienna! Very spiritual for sure! With General Conference, I learned a lot on how to minister like Christ does, to do hard things, and to take upon the name of Christ. I walked away from Conference with things I want to study more but also do differently. I have realized that I need a more eternal perspective on things and understand why God asks us to do hard things. What a great weekend! 

This was my last week in Wien because I am getting transferred! I am heading to the other side of Austria (almost), to Innsbruck! I will finish training Elder Gates! I am excited to see new things in the mission but I am sad to leave Wien. I have had a great time here and I am going to miss this city. I have heard though that Innsbruck is a beautiful place and a great city for missionary work. We will see what the Lord has in store. 

Part of my heart will always be in Wien :) 

We had a good week with lessons and finding this week. We ran into members from Utah again :) They were really happy to see us. The last thing they said was that they were so happy to see the badge. I have not heard that for awhile and it really made my day. 

We met with Min yesterday and she is going to try Moroni's promise for herself. She said she felt good as we taught her the Restoration and I told her that she was feeling the Spirit. It was a great lesson for all of us. She is still really energetic and funny but she has been really good during lessons. 

After the lesson with Min! 

The lesson with Halina this week sadly went sour. She has a hard time with authority and does not understand how we can teach her because we are so young. She spent 50 of our 60 minutes talking and she did not give us any time to teach. I won't be able to see her again but I am sure Elder Jensen and his next companion will do what is best for her. 

We also met with Raphael again. He is such a good guy. We sit down and he tells us to share what we have. He really likes the purpose of life is to have joy and to prepare to meet God. He asks great questions so he understands. I am going to miss teaching him. 

We have two lessons tonight with Toni and Kainda. I will let you guys know next week how it goes. Today is just enjoying the city of Wien one last time and then heading onto somewhere else. My heart aches when I think about it but I knew it would happen some day and it is for a good cause. My time here was not always easy but as I look back, I am just grateful for what I got to experience. I could not have imagined what could have happened out here but I have come to know that God has a plan for me and it is the best plan. 

To close, I wanted to share a quick spiritual thought on taking upon ourselves the name of Christ. I learned in General Conference of how this is a lifelong commitment, not a one time thing. When we take upon His name, we dedicated ourselves to him and we do His will. We do this because He is the center of it all. We enjoy the blessings of the Gospel because of Him. That's why the church has His name because it is His Life we are trying to follow. We want to be His people because of what He has done for us. My goal this week isto be better at remembering Him and trying to do my best to represent Him. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you!!!

Elder Evans 

A friend of ours took this when I was with Elder Buss.

 He sent it today and he said it would be part of his exhibition!