Week #63 Happy Chilean Independence Day

Happy Independence Day from down here in Chile. The weather is actually super bad right now so it is not actually that huge of a party right now. But yesterday we had a super great lunch with the first counselor of the Stake President and the ward activity was also awesome so I have finished my last 18th of September here in Chile pretty well. 

On Friday I had a fun moment at lunch. The son in law of the sister that was giving us lunch on Friday was talking with us and he told us he served in Osorno. He returned in 2015. I asked him if he knew a Sister Findlay or an Elder Fotheringham (Landon's cousin and her husband both served in Osorno) and he said that he did know Brett. If I remember right he was in Brett's first apartment when he arrived in the mission and he said he had a great time getting to know Brett. We took this picture! 

Q&A

1.  Any new investigators?  We got a super cool reference this week of a guy named Jean Martin from Haiti. He is a great guy. He came to church this week and we have already had 2 lessons. He has Gospel Library on his phone and he wants to be baptized. The only problem is that his job in la feria (the Chilean garage sale) and he generally works on Sunday. This weekend was an exception because of the holidays. But it was super awesome to find him and start to teach him. 

2.  How do you feel about your Spanish now?  Is it mostly easy or do you still struggle at times? I fel good about communicating in general. I do not think that living in a pension of 4 gringos is going to help so I am trying to speak Spanish as much as I can. Most things are easy like contacts and lessons. It is a little hard to hold conversations about regular things because I am still getting used to that. But I feel good in general about my Spanish

3.  How do Chileans view Americans?  Good, Bad, Indifferent? It depends on the Chilean. 9 times out of 10 they are either really good with us or they are just indifferent. Every now and then there is someone that is not a fan of the States. A few days ago a man accused of being CIA agents. I laughed it off because I am only 19 and no where close to being a CIA agent. But many people are very excited to see us. They shout hi and wave. We just try to be polite and greet them as well and then go on our way. 

We have a special day tomorrow. Elder Bragg of the Seventy will be visiting us with his wife. From my other conversations with other missionaries and other people it sounds like there have been quite a few of those in the last few weeks. I am really excited. It is going to be a great day. It will be even better for Elder Goodman. Today he got a call from President Brotherson saying that Elder Bragg wants an interview with him which is going to be sweet! We also have interviews with President on Friday and General Conference is coming up Yeah!!!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Elder Evans

Recently I have started a small book of gospel quotes I like and this is one of them. 

It is from Thomas S Monson: 

The missionary opportunity of a lifetime is yours. The blessings of eternity await you. Yours is the privilege to be not spectators but participants on the stage of priesthood service. 

This has been a good reminder the last few days. 

 This morning we went up the mountain to see the cool view of Santiago. It recently rained so the view was even clearer and even more awesome.