"He Confirmed It!"

"On Tuesday we had our interviews with president here! Elder Carpenter and I asked him about going back to Bolivia. He asked first what we knew. I told him mom had been emailing me about it for about a month now and I had heard the other mission presidents had announced it now. Then he confirmed it! He said the church is going to send us back in groups of 20 each change, or 6 weeks. So from each of the 4 Lima missions 5 missionaries are going to go every 6 weeks, making 20 at a time. He said he has the names of the first 5 people from out mission and he couldn’t remember who all is on it, but he said he knows for sure I'm on it. Elder carpenters not. He said I was actually going to go in the beginning of march, but at the last minute they called and said we weren’t going to leave yet. He thinks we are going to go at the end of this change though, or about the 13th of April. So well see! I'm excited though. It sounds like he doesn't really want us to go though."

The keyboard there is different so Justin's emails have a lot of spelling errors and he does not have time to spell check anything. Justin's patience had obviously worn thin, so he went ahead and asked his mission president since he obviously wasn't going to tell him maybe until it was time for him to leave. Justin has been very blessed to have two mission presidents thus far and be able to serve in two countries. He has come to love the people in Peru and has grown in so many ways.

Their zone baptism went from 15 people to 3 last minute. Justin sounded disappointed of course. As his mission president said, "It would have been worth it all even if we only had one baptism." In the morning the missionaries went to the same chicken restaurant, then went to Pisco to get everything ready for the baptisms. Afterwards in the church parking lot, they served cake for all the March birthdays and sang to them. His birthday celebration just keeps going! Justin said,"It was a long and stressful day." My ever perfectionist boy. "Vicki got baptized though and that's what's most important." Vicki is the lady they made the straw hut home for. She now has a family to love and care for her. Her new ward family!

Today for pday he and Elder Gil are going to a members house to hang out. They have planned a day for them. "It is the family of the turkey that I killed. Did I ever tell you I had to buy 2 ducks to make the little girls happy after killing their turkey? Reminded me of when Scott (Justin's cousin) had that little duck friend he brought everywhere with him. Love you all. Talk to you next week. I'll be in Bolivia soon."

Anyone sending Justin letters or packages needs to send them to the Cochabamba BOLIVIA address. He will be long gone from his Peru mission by the time your letter gets there. Be aware that the mail in Bolivia takes a VERY long time! Bummer! Exciting time for him though..... and we get another phone call!! Whoopee!

Doing Good Things

"Well nothing too exciting happened this week. We have the "noche blanca" or white night this Friday. it is just a baptism that we are all doing together. I think President Fierro is going to come as well. There is going to be about 8 people that are going to get baptized. We are baptizing one, Vicki, the lady we built the house for. She comes to church every Sunday. Always late though bc she doesn't have a clock and tells the time from hearing it on the radio. We found out her daughter is a prostitute, very well known by everyone. And she doesn't even share her earnings with her mom, so poor little Vicki never has anything to eat. A least she has a house now though!"

President Fierro still has not said anything to his missionaries about the Bolivian missionaries going back to Bolivia. Justin did say that he has interviews with him tomorrow and a conference on Friday before the baptism. He is waiting patiently for the announcement from his mission president. It seems like the other mission presidents in Peru have told their missionaries from what I have heard. Maybe President Fierro in worried about his missionaries losing their focus. We'll have to wait and see.

In three more weeks, Justin will have been in La Villa for 6 months. As he says, "Guess we will see where I go from there. Maybe off to Bolivia." One thing Justin said happens after being with one person 24/7 is that you get to know that person very well. In "Justin humor" fashion, he says, "After being with a person everyday for 6 months, you learn exactly how to get them mad, excited, really mad, how to get them to not talk to you for a few days, how to get them to talk to you again. Ha ha, it's just like pushing buttons now. I try to be nice all the time though." Elder Gil is probably ready for a new companion too.

Last week they went to an area called Indepencia to do service. Justin said, "It is a taxi ride out past my area into the fields. The elders there don't have a chapel, so we made them a little straw hut thing like we made Vicki to have their meetings in." He said the mosquitoes ate him alive there and he is still itching! Justin is getting a lot of experience with making straw hut structures. Doing good things......

Is Justin the Butcher, The Baker or Candlestick Maker?

Unfortunately for him, the answer is a) the butcher. In his email today, Justin wrote about an interesting meal experience he had with a lunch appointment with the Rojas family. They have two large turkeys in their backyard and Mama Rojas has been asking Justin to go and kill one so they can eat it. He hasn't done it...... until yesterday. After church, she was giving Justin a hard time for not killing one of the turkeys for their meal, so he went out back and chased the turkey around until he caught it by it's legs. The rest of what he wrote is not too pleasant so I won't go in to detail. Let's just say, he provided the main dish for dinner. In his words. "It was horrible. I was completely physically and emotionally drained from it. I felt bad. But we are going to eat it for dinner tonight. The little 9 year old girl was crying because it was her turkey and she watched it get brutally murdered by me, so I have to go buy a new one today. Probably not a very recommendable Sabbath day activity." Man am I glad we have grocery stores and don't have to kill and clean our poultry or meat! I don't know how he ate it. Although, with the little money they have, I'm sure he felt obligated to eat every bite.

Here are some pictures:

He got injured!

The meal ...... looks yummy!

Justin looks happy.

Even the nine year old girl looks happy to eat "her" turkey! Ha!

For Justin's birthday last week, there were many a bakers! He said, "My birthday went well! For lunch we went to Soledad's house and she made us this noodle dish thing, catapulcra. I don't like it much but I pretended that I did. She had a big old chocolate cake for me with 20 candles (made by...... the candlestick makers!) and they all sang. They gave me a money pouch and bracelet for a present. After that we went over to another person we are teachings house, Chirly, and she had a cake for me as well. We ate so much that day. Oh and Jovanna, the sister in law of Sonia, put an egg on my head when I was trying to share the candy mom sent me. I didn't share with her anymore. I was going to throw up at the end of the night I had eaten so much, so I couldn't partake (when did he start using words like "partake?") of the cake Sonia had gotten for me. But over the next few days I snacked on it. It was a good day though! I feel old." How can you be twenty and feel old?

Cake and party number one.

Cake and party number two.

Cake and party number three! Justin is sick and very full by now! Sweet people that are so good to our Justin...... he is so loved! Happy birthday Justin!!!

Today for pday he went to a national park called Paracas. "It is miles along the beach of sweet stuff. (He must mean it is a pretty place.) I got to drive a car for a while out in the middle of nowhere! Hadn't driven in about 9 months. There used to be a bunch of big old arc things down there like in Cabo, but they all fell in the earthquake."

"Everything else is going good, not too much has happened with the people we are teaching. We are baptizing the lady we built the house for on the 27th. President Fierro is coming and we are going to have a zone baptism. Just looking for more people to teach. Love you all. My time is up. Talk to you next week."

Happy Birthday Justin!!

Justin's birthday is tomorrow. Twenty years old!! I hope he has a good day. We'll have to wait and see if he got eggs cracked over his buzzed head of hair! His mom and dad sent him a couple of birthday packages that he received already. He is waiting for the official day to open them. Mom baked him a giant cookie with 20 written on the top with M&M's. Something home baked. He should enjoy it! We also sent him a calendar with pictures of his family and some more treats. He should enjoy it all we hope.

One of his companions in the CCM, Elder Carpenter, is living in the same house with him. He is the district leader in San Clemente, the area 10 minutes away. "In the zone we now have 5 gringos and 7 Latins." I"ll ask Justin where all the gringos are from.

Justin and Elder Gil had two baptisms this past week. "Mario Oscad who is dying and another lady Mari who got married Friday morning to get baptized." They are also getting another family ready, the Quispe family.

Elder Evans, Mari and Elder Gil.

Elder Evans, Mario and Elder Gil.

Group picture!

"Thursday we are going to build a house for this lady we are teaching. Or it's more like a straw hut. Hers fell in the earthquake and she doesn't really have a place to sleep and gets really cold outside at night so we are going to go try to build one in a couple of hours. I am going to organize it all and find all the materials and everything and one of the members is going to come to tell us how to do it. I'll take some pictures." Sounds like they are able to keep doing some great service every week. In mom and dad's email, Justin wrote that he will pay for it and it will cost around $75.00. Seventy five dollars for a home she will be so grateful for. Amazing!

Building day.....

The missionaries doing good things...... service!

The house is finished. Humble abode.

A peek inside the home.

Vicki (the one in the hat) in her new home.

Good work Justin!

Justin wrote that the Peruvians think that being out in the cold or the change in the climate or drinking a really cold beverage will give you a cold. "They also think that if you are really hot and sweating and you drink a ice cold drink that you WILL die. No questions asked. They always freak out when I do it (drink an ice cold drink). I tell them it has to be in their Peruvian blood because everyone does it in the states. They are content with that answer. It is puzzling. .... I will probably never figure out their logic."

He still hasn't heard anything about going back to Bolivia. He said his president didn't say anything about it in his zone conference and he didn't have a chance to ask to ask him. In a letter we received today he said he was a little overwhelmed by the news. "I wouldn't mind staying here (out of Lima of course) in Lima Sur for 6 more months. Do a 50/50 in Bolivia and Peru. But we'll see what the Lord has in store." It's good he has come to love the new area in which he serves. His heart is wherever he serves.

Justin is still working with the ward mission leaders and members teaching them the lessons. Each one is going out with them for at least one hour and they are going out to visit the converts and less active on their own. He says it is going real well. In his letter he said, "What I've seen, most converts here within a period of two weeks stay active or go inactive. They reach the fork in the road quickly. Elder Eduardo Govarret (the visiting seventy) told us, we aren't going to make sure they are converted because a conversion is something that can take all of your life, just that they are ready to start the process. He also said it's not our fault that the retention rate is low. Which is true. The members and bishopric should care more."

Summer is coming to an end there. He said it is cooling off a little, but it is still "way hot." When our summer comes, it'll be cold there. He said around 12 degrees celcius. He has no idea what that is like because he doesn't know what celcius temperatures are like. He doesn't think it gets as cold as here back home in freezing Southern California!

He has finally gotten rid of the fleas. Hoorah! He bought a can of Raid that did the job. Now if they keep the rat out of their home, all will be well on the homefront!

Justin said his reading of the Spanish Book of Mormon is going well. "Still in 1 Nephi. It's not too hard to understand because I already know the story and I can put the words I don't know into context. I have a little notebook to write down the words I dont know though."

Justin also mentioned that today the general presidents of the relief society, primary and young women are there in Pisco and are going to their chapel in La Villa. "I don't know why. I guess we'll see. We are going to play soccer and volleyball. Have fun celebrating my birthday, I'll let you know how it goes. Love you guys." Tomorrow our family is going to a local Peruvian restaurant to celebrate Justin's birthday! Gram and Gramps Evans are coming to celebrate with us. We'll end it with Justin's favorite birthday cake and send him the pictures of his party! Happy 20th birthday my baby!

Staying In Pisco

"Well, today are changes and we thought Elder Gil or I would for sure get a change because the president almost never leaves two missionaries together in the same area for more than 4 and a half months. But no. We are staying together another change. Should be good. ..... I guess we have more to accomplish here together. Still doing the zone leader thing. About half of the missionaries here in Pisco got changed and we are getting the new ones all throughout the day aka I don't get to do much but wait for buses to come. Oh well."

"I just read mom's email about going back to Bolivia. I am in shock. I hope it's true. This is exciting. Haha, I just yelled in the internet cafe and announced to everyone that I am going back in Spanish and English. Wow, don't really know what to say though. It'll be weird though because now I'm used to Peru and this mission, but that's okayyy. Looks like I'm going anorexic again. Oh welll."

"I haven't heard anythingggg about it but I go to Lima Thursday for the zone leader conference and maybe they will mention something there!" We were a little surprised Justin hadn't heard a thing about it yet. Maybe they don't want to tell the missionaries about it until they get closer to the time they will be sent back. Another missionary mom I spoke with last Friday told me she called Salt Lake City and was told the Church has not made an official announcement yet, but the missionaries that have more than 6 months left on their missions will go back to Bolivia. They also told her they would send them back in groups of 20 or so at a time. At this time in Bolivia, they are experiencing an epidemic with Dengue fever. Eighteen people have died so far and 3,000 people are sick. It is spread through mosquito bites. Another worry, but we have faith that Justin will be watched over. I need to make sure he still has insect repellent though.

On their last pday he said they played soccer and had lunch at one of the missionaries home in Pisco. He said he played "carnival" or water fight. They ended up eating a "segregated" lunch because some were not happy about getting soaked. "It was hilarious though." Well, Carnival is officially over Justin with March officially here. I'm sure much to Justin's disappointment. I wonder if Bolivia has carnival????

About Justin's birthday that is on March 10th, he wrote, "My birthday is coming up. All the members are fighting over who gets to give me lunch and dinner and make cakes. (Mom loved hearing this!) It should be good haha. Hopefully I don''t get too many eggs on my head. We will see." A Peruvian birthday tradition is to crack raw eggs on top of the birthday person. Pretty gross. He probably deserves it after his "fun" with "carnival."

"Well, I can't really think anymore. I am excited to go back! It will be weird leaving Peru. I think I had just kind of accepted that I was going to finish my mission here. But I guess I will see what comesss."