Week #76 Merry Christmas!!!

Hello Family and Friends! Merry Christmas!

Wow this week was one of the best on my mission. I am usually not this excited to report about my week but this one was for the books! 

 Life is good out here

Anyway, we had an exchange to start the week. I went with Elder Hilton for most of the day but I started with Elder Steinmann in the morning. We visited a less active family and they seem to be doing alright but sadly they do not understand right now how important the Gospel is. I can't describe the whole situation but living the Gospel principles would make a lot of their challenges a lot easier. We invited them to come to church and they said they would try but they did not come sadly. Moral agency can do in any direction but we used ours the best we knew how. The rest is in the Lord's hands. 

One lesson we had this week was with Danijel. We also had an emergency moving project come right before so we decided to have Elder Gates stay with one of the members to help lift things and I went with the lesson with Elder Thayne. He is from the senior missionary couple and he is a very good teacher. We focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how that helps us change in a positive way. It did not go the way I planned but it made a good difference. 

We also met with Eric and Markus on the same day. We are working slowly with them but they are good guys who are trying the best they can. Other people we worked with were Latif and Maria.

Last Friday was Zone conference! It was good to see the Browns and other missionaries again. We had a good discussion on how Christmas is a great time for missionaries. I feel like I understand that more now so the 2nd time around has been wonderful. I got to catch up with some old friends and we had fun together as the missionaries in Austria. Near the end, we watched a video of a mama bear and a baby bear climbing an icy slope up a mountain. The mama bear does fine but the baby bear kept struggling. It was so close to the top one time but then it slipped all the way back down. We discussed how slidng down was not really bad; it was a part of the learning process. President Brown explained how that the same is with challenges on the mission. They do not need to be seen as bad things. It is part of the University of Godhood so to speak ;)

 All the Austrian Missionaries! 

 A pic of the musical number at Zone Conference. We sang First Noel 

We did caroling by our special bike and it went so well. 5 members came as well as the missionaries and we did a good job singing. Sadly it was raining a bit but people stopped, listened, and even took videos. It was quite a piece of sunlight in a rainy day. 

Sunday we had our church services and 4 of our friends came! Vera Lucia, Erik, Danijel, and Latif. Vera Lucia met the people in our ward who speak Portuegese and they became instant friends. She even got invited to lunch! Our members rock, I must say. We also had a lunch appointment with our Bishop. It was my first time eating duck! Really tasty. We also got to visit a less active later that day. He was in the hospital and he enjoyed the visit. Right by his bed was a Book of Mormon. That was cool to see that he still reads even though it is difficult to get to church. 

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, I finished the Nelson challenge yesterday. It was amazing to see how much Christ is in the last few chapters. Just in the book itself, it is quite amazing. I am glad President and Sister Brown invited us to take the challenge because it really helped me see how much the Book of Mormon has changed my life. I could not go without it. I love that I can read when I want it and that I get to share it too! 

Today for Christmas, we went up to the Thaynes to do district council, eat lunch, and go on a hike. It was a fun break and a wonderful Christmas day. Sometimes, particularly in times like Christmas, I really do stand all amazed on how much Jesus loves us and how good He is. He is the center point of this season and His fulfillment of His mission is so inspiring. True to His promise, He did exactly what He said He would do and He did it with all the love possible for one to have. I am grateful for Him and for the chance to serve him in my life. 

Companions!  

I hope you all enjoy this time of year and the start to 2019! Love you!

Elder Evans 

Chicken we cooked on Christmas Eve 

Note from family:  We loved talking to Mason on Christmas Eve!  This year we got to talk to him and his twin brother Landon at the same time.  So fun to have them be able to talk to each other.  Mason is doing well and loving the mission!