On a bridge in England

Well, I'm not even gonna lie to you guys! This has been the strangest, hardest, most frustrating, difficult, and challenging week of my life. I met my trainer, his name is Elder McKenzie, he's great. Then I got to my first area (Wolverhampton 2nd Ward area, In the Lichfield stake) and it was go go go go go the second we got here. We got to my flat(apartment) dropped my bags and ran out the door to my first dinner appointment! First thing I have to say about that, the members here are amazing. They feed us dinner 6-7 nights a week, pretty much 2 times a month we don't have dinner appointments. They feed us so so well. (So don't worry mom, I am getting food) The English food I have had so far has been good. They love gravy here, I haven't had a dinner appointment where they didn't feed us something with gravy. But I am really blessed to be in an area with such faithful and amazing members.

Every single member I have met has said the same thing to me when they meet me. They say "Elder Evans where are you from" I tell them I am from Utah and they all say the same thing "Utah where's that? 😉 ..... of course you are from Utah!! You're all from utah!" And then they say "I just ask because I was guessing You're from Wales because Your last name is like the most common last name in Wales." It is seriously is so funny because everyone has told me that! Haha. 

The area I am in is completely outside of the city center. So there is not much street contacting for me, we pretty much just knock doors all day. I have already had some interesting experiences knocking doors. I have had doors slammed in my face, and I've had people yell, but I have also met some genuinely nice people. The funniest thing that happened while knocking doors, happened probably 3 nights ago. We knocked this guys door and a guy came out, he was so drunk. We talked for a bit and he was a very lovey drunk. He kept telling us how proud he was of us. Then he gave me a hug and told me I was going places in the world and that he loved me. It made me laugh. He didn't like my companiom though, he made it clear that my companion wasn't going places In the world. I guess I am just good with drunk people? 😉

One thing I have learned very quickly is how diverse and different England is. My Companion and I have summed up England in one sentence "when someone answers there door, the first thing you smell is Indian food, and weed." We decided that everyone in England is just high all the time. The houses here are weird. Litterally every house here is either a duplex, a triplex, or even there can be up to 8 or 9 houses connected together. But that is just a normal house in England. Nothing here is the same as America. It will definitely take me a while to get used to it all. 

We have been able to tract into a couple houses, and we have met some great people. But we have also tracted into a couple houses that are just major tricks. There have been a few people so far, they pretend like they know nothing, and then as soon as we get into their house BOOM BIBLE BASH (the ones we have met so far were seventh day Adventists, or Jehovah's witnesses). They start bashing on EVERYTHING I believe and telling me I'm wrong and that I'm going to hell and that I need to listen to what they say. Luckily my companion has done this for 10 months, and he is so so knowledge and knows exactly what to say. He usually just continues teaching the restoration until they kick us out. Because they will keep bashing until we give up and say they are right, or until we irritate them with the restoration enough to get them to kick us out. That gives me the biggest panic attacks in the whole world, I freeze and start shaking uncontrollably. I have no clue what to say in that situation. So I just sit there are pray until we finally get to leave. It's SO hard. I know that the book of Mormon is true without any doubt, I love it and I know it. And it scares me to death to have people who honestly hate something that I know for a fact is true. It's hard to watch them try to rip apart everything I have known to be true my whole life. It honestly shows me how truthful the book of Mormon is. Satan would not work this hard to tear down my belief in something if it wasn't true. So even though it scares me to death and gives me major anxiety to be in situations like that, it also just strengthens my testimony. I love this church I know it's true.

My first lesson that I got to participate in was for a wonderful kid named Sammy Lee. (I only tell you his name because I know that everyone from my home ward will find his name funny). He is a long term investigator. That kid is so much more faithful then me. He is like a bright light in dark and gloomy England. I love that kid and I'm so lucky to be teaching him. I have also had the chance to teach a couple other people and it has really been good to use what I learned in the MTC for reals.

Well that's about it for this week. I am not the type of person to pretend I am feeling a certain way, even though I'm not. So I am going to tell you honestly how I am feeling. So far being on a mission, I have had a really really hard time with my emotions. I have had the worst anxiety of my entire life, times 50, since leaving Utah 1 month ago. I am really really really really struggling. I am having a hard time doing the work and I really don't feel like myself at all. I am working with my President and getting the help I need, and I think (and really hope) that I'll be okay and that I'll be able to make it through this anxiety and still serve and say that I gave my absolute best on my mission! No matter what happens, I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me. I have been really praying harder than I ever have in my life, and I know that Heavenly Father will guide me to do what is best for me.  I have felt your prayers! Please keep praying for me! Thank you guys for all you do! Feel free to email me and talk for a bit today! I love and miss you all so so much! I promise you I will continue to work as hard as I possibly can! I love you all so much!

-Elder Eric Evans 

The oldest building in Wolverhampton (some church)

Birmingham Grand Central Station 

(I hate taking the train because of this station)

Me and my trainer (He's from Magna and knows my cousins)

Me laying in the road so that you can see how small 

English roads are.  Being in a car here scares me to death.

Last night in the MTC

First REAL English fish and Chips

(55x's better than any fish and chips  I have

ever eaten in America)

Wolverhampton

Week 3....Almost

I know what you're all thinking, my email is early this week! And you're right. This week is the week that I finally get to leave the MTC. (after what has already felt like 2 years) I will be leaving Chorley and will be headed for Birmingham Tuesday morning at 7 am, and Tuesday was normally P-day. So our president gave us permission to do our emailing today Instead of on tuesday! So hello everyone!

I must say, I am so so so so so excited to be leaving the MTC. Of course, I'm super nervous too, but I am mostly excited. Because honestly I HATE the MTC haha! The drive to Birmingham is about 2 hours long! So it won't be that bad! I'm sure I'll get to the point that I start to struggle again, but I know I'll be okay now. The MTC definitely was such a learning and humbling experience for me. Even though I really hated every second, I know without it that I wouldn't be as effective of a missionary so I am thankful for it. I'm also so thankful for the relationships that I have built here in the MTC, I love my district so much and I consider all of them some of my closest friends In the world! I am lucky to be serving with every single one of them in Birmingham so I am sure we will get to see each other quite a bit while we are out there in the field, applying everything that we learned to Teach repentance and baptise converts! Haha! I know that all of the missionaries in my district will be amazing missionaries in their own way, and I'm thankful I had them because they got me through the MTC!

This last week in the MTC was a good one. We have still been doing the same things over and over again. It has been so spiritual, and I feel spiritually overloaded here. My testimony has grown so so much! But it has been repetitive and that exhausts you. We wake up, eat, study, excersize, eat, study, study, eat, study, study, and go to bed with exactly 8 hours left until you have to wake up again. It's overwhelming haha! On Thursday of this last week we went on a field trip to go look at some church history In England. When we left I honestly didn't think that there was going to be much church history In England, but there was so much more than I expected! We saw the river ribble, which is the first place that British people were baptised. We also got to go to Preston city center, which is the first place the gospel was preached by missionaries in England! We all stood and pretended to be those missionaries, right where those missionaries preached so so long ago. We saw the first apartment that Gordon B Hinckley lived in when we was in England and we saw the first chapel that Mormons worshiped in. It was such a cool experience. I'll send lots of pictures of it! Other than that it has been a pretty uneventful week! I am excited to get out of here!

So I thought it would be a good idea to list all of the things that I actually enjoyed about the MTC just so that you guys can actually tell that I really did enjoy some things.

1. I'm in England not Provo

2. The MTC is tiny so I am friends with everyone

3. I know the MTC president and his wife very well because of how small it is. Everyone knows them well and talks to them!

4. We get to go to the temple on pday 

5. We have a cool pond outside

6. We see bunnies almost every night right outside by the pond

7. We get to go on cool field trips

So there! Those are my favorite parts about the MTC! I love you all and I am so thankful for you guys! I miss you all so much but I know that a mission is what I need and what I am supposed to be doing! I really have appreciated all the emails and support and love you guys have given me! I will be emailing all day today so if you would like to talk, send me an email! Love you guys!

I'll talk to you when I'm in Birmingham.

Love,

Elder Eric Evans 

Pretending to preach in the first chapel that the 

Mormons worshiped in (not an lds chapel)

The house Gordon B. Hinckley was in when he read the letter

 from his father that said "forget yourself and go to work"

The river ribble. Where the first British saints were baptised

Me, elder Reeder, elder johnson, and elder holdaway standing 

where the first missionaries in England taught the gospel

 A memorial sign

The town of Downham selfie

Group picture in that 183757371747 year old chapel (I'm convinced it was so haunted, there was a graveyard on the main area of the chapel. Scary)

1 Elder Evans 2

 CHAPTER 2

Elder Evans continues his journey through the MTC- Studying, learning, and teaching never seem to stop- Friday in Manchester was discouraging as people didnt want to hear the message of Elder Evans and his companion- Elder Evans continues to press forward anxiously waiting to leave MTC 

1 Well this week was a little bit calmer than the last! The MTC is just a lot of repeating itself over and over! It's been good though. Tuesday after I sent off my first email we were able to go do an endowment session at the temple. That temple was beautiful! It was different than the other temples that I have been in! And the temple is a lot smaller than it looks in pictures! It was really good, and it was kinda fun being in a temple where everyone has a British accent! We also walked into Chorley on Tuesday and I bought myself a bunch of curly wurlys, which is my favorite English candy that I have had so far! I was glad to have those!

2 Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday were just normal days in the MTC! We spend all day studying and role playing and learning! I'll write out the schedule so that you guys can have a little idea of what we do in the MTC!

6:30 wake up/shower

7:15 breakfast 

8:00 personal study 

9:00 companion study or teach fake investigators

10:30 get ready for physical acivity/ physical activity 

11:30 shower change clothes again

12:15 lunch

1:00 class with teacher

3:00 study time or teaching fake investigators 

4:30 class with teacher

5:15 dinner 

6:00 class with teacher

8:00 study time or teach fake investigators 

9:00 go up to bed and write in journal

9:30-10:30 Go to sleep 

3 And the it starts all over again. It's stressful,  but I understand why they want us to do it. It's been interesting here. I'm really close with my district and we are all really good friends. They all keep me laughing and smiling, so I'm glad that I have every single one of them. I wouldn't be surviving here if I didn't have my district. They have me on the floor laughing sometimes. That makes it easier to be here and not to get sad.

4 Friday was a different day though, on Friday we were able to drive into Manchester to practice proselyting! We drove right into the middle of the city and we all got off the bus in Piccadilly garden square! All 60 of us were given pass along cards, lesson pamphlets, and book of Mormons. We were told to go proselyting and hand out as much of this stuff as possible. (They did give us more instruction than that, but you get the idea) At first it was so hard, and so discouraging. We all eventually learned to just laugh when they said no. We approached every person we could see. We all learned that British people are not the kindest people in the world. We were told to go back to America, we were told we were fake, people cussed at us, and laughed at us, and honestly, it ended up being one of the most fun things I've  done since I have been in England. It was cool to see such a big city. The part that was hardest for me, wasn't when they said no to us, or when they called us names. The hard part was when they would flat out ignore us like we didn't even exist. All I wanted them to do was just respond to me and tell me to go away, or to even cuss at me. But at least 20% of the people we talked to, just flat out ignored us and pretended like we didn't exist. And that was hard!

5 It's weird because the people didn't even know what they were saying no to. We were literally there to bring them ETERNAL JOY AND HAPPINESS. Yet they were telling us that they weren't interested! Who doesn't want eternal joy and happiness?! I don't know, but it was frustrating a little bit. Our teacher just told us to flip it around on them. When they said they weren't interested, just ask them what they weren't interested in, that usually caused the person to listen for 15 seconds longer, And then they told us to go back to america! Haha that was interesting, and it makes me nervous to get into the field. But im gonna continue to press forward so that i can teach the people of England! It was weird though, all the kids from europe were able to hand out like 10 book of Mormons each! Yet all of the American kids combined were only able to hand out like 6! Guess it's true, British people do not like Americans! Overall it was an interesting day.

6 Other than that, nothing really new that I haven't already told you! If you guys have any questions for me about the Mtc or about England! Go ahead and just email me! I'd love to hear from all of you! Thank you guys so much for all the prayers! I have needed every single one, and I have felt them over the last couple days! It really means a lot to have such a huge support group back at home cheering me on! I am not gonna lie I really have been struggling here! But your prayers and emails of advice have helped  me so so so much! I love and miss you all! I can't wait to hear from everyone! Only one more week in the MTC and then I will be leaving Chorley and headed for Birmingham! This Thursday we get to go look at church historical sites all morning! So I will send plenty of photos of that next week!

7 Funny moment of the week: so on Wednesday, we were having a lesson talking about how you can literally relate anything to the gospel. We were all assigned a random thing (sports, candy, war) and we were told that we had to get up infront of a fake investigator and relate that thing to the gospel, as if we were talking  about that thing as something the investigator enjoyed. We all prepared and we worked really hard to make That relate to the gospel. Everything everyone said was very well crafted and the investigator enjoyed it. And then Elder Anderson  gets up, and his topic was sports. He says to the investigator "do you like sports?" without even giving the investigator half a second to answer he said "I like sports" and the investigator was super confused because he didn't let her answer his question. And that was pretty much all he said. I know it probably doesn't sound very funny over email, but we were all laughing harder than we ever have in our lives. Elder Reeder and one other missiomary had to leave the room, because they couldn't stop laughing. It was just so funny because we all worked so hard to create these well crafted analogies, and the best he could come up with was "do you like sports? I like sports" 

8 Elder Anderson always keeps us laughing so hard. He is the most awkward kid I have ever met, but he definitely knows how to make us laugh. I have a few other really really funny stories of Elder Anderson, but writing it over email doesn't do it justice, so I guess you'll just have to wait till I'm home to hear those stories (and he's he knows I'm putting this in my email) 

9 Well I love you all! I hope I didn't ramble on and bore you to death with my stories! 

Talk to you all soon!

-Elder Eric Evans

Elder Reeder and I in Manchester

Waiting for the bus to come pick us up out of

the rain, in Piccadilly Gardens

 

Every single person in the whole England MTC

Elder Reeder and I doing handstands.

Some cool building that I took a picture of

going into Manchester.

Week 1: What a crazy week!

Hello everyone! Holy moly what a week it has been! Thank you all for the love and support that you guys have given me! I have needed it! This week we finally made it to England on Thursday morning at about 7:30 am England time. (12:30am Utah time, 25 hours later than we were originally supposed to land) after traveling and literally being exhausted, we landed in Manchester and we were picked up by two of the MTC workers! It was so nice to see people who could handle things for us instead of us having to figure out how to get to where we were going all on our own! We drove to the MTC and man that was the scariest drive of my life! Getting used to driving on the left side of the road has been so scary! They don't have intersections in England!  It's all roundabouts! So it was so scary too! 

We finally got to the MTC and first thing we did was a mini orientation, we got out name tags and companions! My Companions name is Elder Reeder from pleasant view Utah! He's great! Then we were thrown into class (after already not sleeping for 48 hours) and we tried to catch up to all the other elders in our district who had been there 24ish hours longer than me and my companion! And I'm not even gonna lie, I don't remember anything that was said because I was SO sleep deprived by the time I got to go to bed at 9 that night! (Over 12 hours after I landed in England) 

The next couple days were so so so so difficult. Because of how exhausted I was. We were thrown into teaching fake lessons to our "investigator" who is just one of my teachers, Elder Hunter, pretending to be someone that he baptised on his mission (yes baptised, not baptized, that's how they spell it in England). And studying our hearts out! You study so much here! Its all work work work! The best way i have heard it described to me is that the MTC is like drinking from a fire hydrant. You try to drink as much water as you can, but for the most part you just get hit in the face. Haha its hard work, but I'm starting to get used to it. Because of how exhausted and overwhelmed I was, everything felt AWFUL and I was miserable the first couple of days I was here. 

And then I finally made it to Sunday. And I'm telling you, Sunday's are were it's at in the MTC! The meetings were SOOOOOOOO spiritual. Literally those meetings were for me! Every single one of my prayers about my worries, fears, doubts, loneliness, etc. We're answered! Those meetings were inspired just for me! I felt so so so much better after Sunday! So future missionaries, if you're reading this! All you have to do is make it  to the first Sunday! It'll help so much!

Yesterday, I felt the best I have felt so far, I was happy, and the day went by quick! I am glad to be learning such amazing things! It's great! I feel the spirit strongly here! And because this place is small, I think it's easier for the spirit to be here! It's not as chaotic.

 So that's where I'm at now. All should be okay! Just keep emailing me and cheering me on! We are allowed to read emails all week! And emails from you guys really REALLY make it feel not so bad and make it easier for me to focus (just knowing you guys are thinking about me and supporting me) so keep emailing!!

Now I will tell you a bit about the MTC because of all your questions! Just so that you guys get an idea of what it is like!

1. My district has 6 kids from Utah, one from England, one from South Africa, one from Australia, and one from California! We spend all day making fun of each others accents because there is such a variety in how we all talk.

2. We have determined there is no such thing as swear words. They all use words that are SO inappropriate In America, that aren't in their countries and visa versa

3. One of my MTC teachers is from Scotland, the other from Ireland. So we are all picking up those accents  and not British ones

4. The food is about half English half American, they kind of make American food here, but they don't make it right and it's bland. But it's good enough

5. There is only a total of 62 missionaries currently in the MTC  so it is TINY!

6. My MTC president is from Vegas, and he is awesome! We interact with him daily because this place is so small!

7. Yes I do get to go to the temple!  In fact I'm doing an endowment session today! 

Now onto the things I have learned about England:

1. If there is an emergency you dial 999 not 911

2. Their police cars and ambulances sound similar to ours, but much higher pitched, the best way to describe it is like children's ambulance or police car toys (if that makes sense).

3. Utahn's think our weather is temperamental, but it's nothing compared to England

4. It's called a pressup here. Not a pushup

5. Most British people are about as grumpy as everyone thinks they are

6. There is a switch next to every single outlet no matter what, its kinda annoying when you plug something in and forget to flip the switch on.

7. Like I said above, it's Baptised, authorised, sanitised, etc. Not baptized, authorized, sanitized

Well that's about it! I love you all so so much!  Please keep emailing and supporting! Thank you all for everything you have done! I'll talk to you all soon! If you have questions, send them my way.  I will have time to answer! 

-Elder Eric Evans

A view of the temple steeple

His desk

The MTC

In front of the Preston England Temple

The MTC grounds, and his view from his desk.

The Story of the Nametagless Missionaries

First off, if you are on this Email list, you will be receiving all of my weekly emails. I'm so excited they I  am finally on my way and I love you all.

So I thought you guys would like to hear the story  of my travels to the MTC and my experiences so far. I left my home this morning  around 5am. We made it to the airport and our first flight to Chicago went great. ( I am flying with 11 other missionaries going to the Preston MTC. There are 3 sisters and  8 Elders including me. ) We had a 3 hour layover In Chicago. We finally boarded our flight to Amsterdam  after what felt like forever. After sitting in the airplane for about an hour and a half before we were all told to disembark the airplane because the plane was broken. They told us that it would maybe be 1 hour and we could get right back on the airplane.. After 4 hours passed, we were told that the flight was canceled and that we would need to collect out checked luggage and report to the counter to reschedule our flight. That is when we learned that  we would not be leaving Chicago any time soon. We have been rescheduled to leave Chicago tomorrow at 4:00 pm, the same flight we were scheduled on for the 3rd. But just the next day. The airline was very nice and took care of us so we are all staying in a hotel tonight  in Chicago.  We are safe and we are just ready to leave the country and get to serving. We got to the hotel at about 12:30 And we ordered pizza with the food vouchers the airline gave us. So I did get to try Chicago style pizza (didn't taste much different from normal pizza) we all were just so happy to be somewhere where we could finally eat and sleep. We have all been trying to find opportunities to talk to people while flying. So many people ask us what we are doing all dressed up. When we tell them we are Mormon missionaries, they ask where our nametags are. So we have developed the name of The Nametagless Missionaries Stuck in Chicago. We have also decided that something huge is gonna be happening in Europe the next year or two  because Satan is working real hard to make sure we don't  get there, and that if we do get there, we will get there frustrated. That's all there really is far! I'll keep you posted when I email on my P day (instead of in a hotel in chicago) I love you all. See you in 2. 

-Elder Eric Evans

Elder Evans Called To Serve

Elder Eric Evans was called to serve on June 1st 2017.  He was assigned to labor in the England Birmingham Mission.  YAY!  He will report to the England Mission Training Center on October 4th, 2017, and will be flying out of Salt Lake International Airport on October 3rd.