A Wonderful, Wonderful Week

This week has been AMAZING. That is not to say that it hasn't come without trials, but the blessings mean so much more.

Funny stories first...

A few weeks ago we were knocking doors near our house. We walked into a yard that and saw a guard dog sign, but no guard dog in this completely open yard. So of course, without thinking I decide to say, "Here guard doggy doggy doggy.." [I can't tell you why..] and this dog starts barking super loud from the inside [thank goodness] of this big cage. Needless to say we jumped, laughed, and got out of there pretty quick. Anyway...

Longer [but wonderful] story...

Perhaps the greatest part of the week was a lesson with one of our progressing investigators. The only thing is that we couldn't get him to commit to a baptism date and I had no idea why. He just kept saying he wanted to take things slow. SO... we prayed and prayed and prayed and finally had a lesson with him. When we did, every little scripture and thought we were going to share with him flew right out the window. That was NOT what we were supposed to share with him, but God recognized out preparation and guided us with His spirit throughout the rest of the lesson. 

How did it go? Well we both shared scriptures and thoughts and asked inspired questions.  It flowed so smoothly that I was in awe the entire time. Towards the end of the lesson I saw my companions planner in her lap open to the page that has the baptismal interview questions. I thought, "YES. This is exactly what needs to happen." [which was funny because I had no clue what was going to happen]. He read the questions and said they were simple, but important. All along he just wanted to be confident in his faith before being baptized! So cool! Now we are going through each question with him and when we are done, he will be baptized!!

We testified of God's love for him and also told him about the plans being changed. The spirit was so present and obvious. He even smiled and said, "My hands are shaking." After the closing prayer he said, "I could feel the spirit," with a big smile. "I think we all could!" I said. We had a little laugh about that. When my companion and I got in the car we just screamed as we drove away for I-don't-know-how-long.  This was the happiest lesson ever. God knows His children by name. 

A Spiritual Sunday...

You'd never guess who came to my ward. He was on vacation with his family and we greeted him and shook his hand as he walked into chapel [just like we greet everyone]. 

It was Elder Neil L. Andersen!! 

He and his wife were nice enough to talk to us too! And guess what they talked about? 1) Elder Packer and Elder Perry 2) Sabbath day observance. He said that this has been a big focus of discussions with the apostles and first presidency. He warned that in future years, the world will try to creep into the church as well as into our families.  This is one essential commandment that we must follow. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. One of the scriptures he said is talked about a lot is...

D&C 59:9-10 

"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go
 to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; For verily this is 
 a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the  
Most High;"

How can YOU have better Sabbath day observance? 

I love you all! God knows and loves His children. There are blessings awaiting us it we, but turn our will over to His. 

-Sister Lindsay Evans

Photo 1 - Sister Penales and I after our amazing lesson. This is exactly how we felt. :)

Photo 2 - It gets really hot here some days...

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Photo 3 - My first exchange with an amazing sister who cooked for me for every meal!!

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Extra Photos

Photo1 - Zone Conference lag time.

 

Photo 2 - If I ever forgot that I was a greenie [newbie], well... I definitely won't forget now. Thank you, Paige.
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A Crazy Week of Big & Little Blessings

Hello everyone!

To start of the week I thought this would be fun...

FUN FACTS about the Hawaii, Honolulu Mission!
- It took me awhile to really realize it, but chickens live in my backyard. Sometimes they even wake up an hour early just so that I'm not a minute late for morning prayers.
- The humidity has some interesting effects. 1) If I hand my wrinkled clothes in my closet and wait one or two days, they unwrinkle automatically. 2) My hair is wayy frizzy some days. 3) Many of my envelopes have sealed themselves, just by my setting them down some place.
- It rains 0-3 times a day [sometimes pours] for 20 minutes and then is hot again. Never dry though.
- Missionaries get into the Polynesian Cultural Center for free!
- Rice for every meal.
- We get to wear sandals!
- No matter who you are, you are a foreigner. Especially in the VC, their are visitors and missionaries from all around the globe. Pretty cool! It's mainly Americans, Asians, Filipinos, and Pacific Islanders. 

So.. exciting story...
We were robbed on Tuesday! Woo-hoo! Not really....
Now you all probably have questions. Here are the answers..
How? They got through our broken front window. [It's fixed now and secure.]
What did they get? 3 Handbags with important stuff. We got 2 back without the important stuff in them [wallets and such].
When? At 6 AM when we were still asleep upstairs. A neighbor saw them take off and came to wake us up.
Why am I telling you this? Not to scare you or impress you believe it or not, but to express that the Lord protects His servants.
A big part of my blessing when I was set apart as a missionary spoke of how I would be protected during my service as a missionary. I want to point out two miracles... 1) For no apparent reason, my companion woke up at 6:08 and picked up her alarm clock [which she never does]. She ended up dropping it. This likely spooked the robbers and caused them to leave quicker then they would have. 2) After she dropped her alarm clock we fell back asleep into a deeper sleep than I have ever been in on my mission. So did she. If we would have heard them and gotten up, and confronted them, this could have caused greater problems. I truly feel that angels were protecting us and I am very grateful.
I got to call my parents to cancel my debit card too! They were very surprised haha. It was good to say hi. Love them! And I am totally fine!! So, no worries everyone :)

Besides that, my first zone conference was this week. It was all day and we learned about some wonderful things including the effect and blessing of music. Since then my companion and I have been singing to the people we visit. We sang to one lady who has been reluctant to meet with us and she finally set up a day! Cool! We also sang to a family who is less active in the church. The mother was very touched.  I had the strongest feeling that if we kept working with her [although people have been working with her for a long time before] she would start to come to church again and eventually make it back to the temple sooner rather than later. And guess what?! She was at church on Sunday! I love how God prepares people. It's all in His good timing.

My last thought is that God loves every single one of His children more than we can imagine. He loves you more than you can imagine! Are we really doing everything we can to share our beliefs and have the same love for them that our Father in Heaven does?
God asks you, "__[your name]__, do you love me?"
If you answer, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," then what is the first thing he demands of you? ...
"Feed my sheep." [John 21]

Thank you for your support! I love you all!

Sister Lindsay Evans

Photo 1 - Welcome to Zone Conference! [I'm holding my beloved planner.] This was my first "I actually feel normal being here" day in my mission. Thank goodness! So, that is why I look so happy! :) Love it!

Photo 2 - Her New Zealand Whitaker's Chocolate! Who gets this much chocolate in a package! Sharing is caring right??

Photo 3 - Any Mexican food in Hawaii is a blessing. It always makes me so happy. Little blessings!

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He Lives!

Aloha everyone!

Just thought I would let you all know that I ate lunch with a bunch of sisters on a lawn right next to the beach in the middle of all these trees with a nice breeze coming in off the water.... It's been a rough P-day.

Haha. In all seriousness, Hawaii has all the challenges of any other mission and is pushing me to learn and grow in a lot of ways. The weather is a blessing though. (:

This last week has been so great. Tiring, challenging, even disappointing and frustrating at times, but great. I think I'm starting to lose that "deer-in-the-headlights" look and I'm getting to know the people here. Most are members of the church, but even members need strengthening. They prepare dinner for us most night and are very kind. Sharing short messages is fun an so inspiring. They strength in the gospel and as people in general is so powerful.

I had the opportunity to go the the Polynesian Cultural Center this week and watch the night show. It's all about families and has really entertaining Polynesian music and dancing to go along with it.

My companion and are getting along really well and we end up laughing a lot. She's a super cool person. Always happy and excited too! All 4 feet / 10 inches of her. It cracks me up. 

How the Visitor's center? It's great! When we are having a slow day we watch videos and get to know the resources there. They are so wonderful. We taught a lot of member families this week. Also after a week with no knew investigators we had some high-school seniors come in. They went to a baptist school, and didn't view God as being active in our lives today. Because of this, we got to share with them some of the most hopeful news  - He Lives! He lives and is totally aware of every single one of us, whatever our circumstance. He loves us and wants us to return to him. We showed them this video... https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

They were very interested. After they left, they actually all came back in a few minutes later asking for copies of the Book of Mormon. So cool! I love missionary work!

Anyway... spiritual thought...
Some of the most hopeful words ever spoken [in my opinion] are these...
Luke 2:11 - "For unto you is born this day in the city of David aSaviour, which is Christ the Lord."
and
Matthew 28:6 - "He is not here: for he is risen."

Why does He live for YOU?

I hope you are all doing wonderfully! 

Much love,

Sister Lindsay Evans

Photo 1 - A little friend I found on my bedroom floor. So cute! My companion thought he was gross though... 

 

Photo 2 - The sunsets are short here, but wow.... they are always beautiful.

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