January 12, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry! It seems like every Monday my email time gets shorter and shorter.
This week was a
lot better. We were able to see and plan for the baptisms that we are going to
have this transfer. We also had interviews with Pres. Cabral and my interview
was the best that I have ever had with him or with my other mission presidents.
It was quick, but we had a good conversation and he told me what he felt about
my potential and other cool things. He showed me a graph of all of the
missionaries here and the number of baptisms they have and I am in second place
right now. I gotta get working harder. Because "I wanna be the very best,
like no one ever was..."
But basically we are just in the daily missionary
grind and we are working hard to get things done. We didn't baptize this week
:( but we reactivated a man and brought his family to church! And fun fact, it
is a family that I started to teach when I was in Maricá last March.
They weren't legally married, but they started all the process and the
papers and will be getting married any time now!!! More families to
complete and send to the temple to get sealed!
I'm
going to Rio again tonight for meetings tomorrow. And we are going to have
another crazy week! Whoo!
I
love all yall, have a good week and I promise that next week I will write more.
Elder
Evans
BONUS LETTER THROUGH HIS FORMER SEMINARY TEACHER
From LeAnne Hansen:
Our class prays for each of you on a regular basis, and I thought it would be wonderful to read your testimonies—and experiences, if you can think of them—of the Lord’s presence and power in the work you are doing with Him
Alex's Response:
Awesome!
I studied that section with my mission president this week! My favorite part of
the section is the first 5 verses. As missionaries we are those who gave our
own names to go out and preach the gospel, and if we go quickly and use all of
the time that has been given us and work with all of our strength, we will
receive the greatest blessings that God can give to His children. But the best
experiences of being a missionary are those when you really feel and recognize
these promises coming true in your work. When you open your mouth to spread the
gospel and it sounds as if it were a trump that penetrates even the hearts of
all who hear. You teach by revelation. The Spirit places the words in your
mind.
I
have a great testimony of this promise that as a missionary, I can speak by the
power and influence of the Holy Ghost. And these words touch the hearts of men
and women in ways that I had not ever imagined. It is a privilege to be able to
teach someone and the Spirit tells me what I need to say, He tells me the
problems and the trials of that person and I can then offer a cure. An example
that happened just two days ago, we were teaching a woman and her mother about
the Gospel of Jesus Christ using the Book of Mormon, and while I was teaching
about enduring to the end I just felt the need to promise them that they could
see their loved ones who had already passed away, that they could live with
them for eternity in happiness and peace. They both began to cry and after told
us that one of the sisters of this woman had passed away 2 years ago, and had
thought that they would never have the chance to be with her again. They both
will be baptized in the upcoming weeks. I know that if we teach by the
revelations that the Spirit gives us, we can help others come unto Christ and
receive the Restored Gospel, and be baptized.
I
hope all of you can also experience these things serving a mission.
Elder
Evans, Missão Brasil Rio de Janeiro
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