9/12/22

Hi Ruth!

Neil scraped the back *side* of the car against a gas pump barricade today when pulling in. I was like Oohhhhhh nooooooo…. But at least he didn’t total the car like Tyler Judd did this weekend. He hit a 2022 Tesla, with rear cameras so it’s all on video. He was picking a girl up on a blind date and looking at his phone for directions and couldn’t stop in time. He wasn’t even going that fast but it was fast enough to deploy all the airbags so that sucks. 

I was talking to Sister Jones on Tuesday and she was telling me that she left Caleb home alone for the first time just that day and it took them both a few minutes to adjust to the realization that that was ok now. He didn’t have to have a companion all the time anymore. 

So I finally got a gym membership. At Planet fitness right by Jeremiah’s. It’s awkward being the only sister in law that isn’t working out now. I used to have Carrie but now she is training for a triathlon with Aunt Aubrey and everyone exercises on vacation now. I still haven’t decided if I will go that far yet when we are at the beach together in October, but at least I can say I’m not being a total sloth anymore. 

Speaking of Jeremiah’s Andy finally got back with Liam and said he would be sending him hiring information this weekend, he’s at choir right now with dad and mad Adele so I will ask him if he got it when he gets home. Andy told Liam originally things are kinda crazy and he didn’t have time to train him or something but he would reach out later. 

Liam and Elinor had activity days on Wednesday. Elinor met at the church to do family history. I swear if Janena tells me one more time that she and I “are related! Through the McClellan line!” Like it’s news I’m just going to tell her “yes my dear I know. We’ve had at least 3 in depth conversations about it. You are also related to Marcus through a different line.” It’s not news anymore. 

Orson had to put his Sunday best on for activities and the Stratton’s took them to dinner to teach them out to dinner manners and etiquette. They didn’t just take them to dinner though. They took them to eat *Stratton* style at the most expensive place to eat in Gilbert. A place called bourbon and Bones; dad and I went for our anniversary and I felt sick at how much we spent on dinner afterwards, I think it was like $50 a plate. No I just checked, orson said he got the NY strip and the menu said it was $67 but he also got beef skewers as an appetizer and that’s $23. And he got a soda. He said everyone got root beer but he got Dr. Pepper. *sigh* so Orson almost $100 dinner multiplied by 10 people still isn’t as much as the bus he bought for the youth when he was young mens President. I surely do love the Stratton’s though. They are very generous. 

Michelle said: “We had a wonderful night with the boys last night! The waiters did a great job teaching the boys proper table etiquette and we had a great meal. They had calamari fries and octopus and they all tried it! They are amazing! Literally over a dozen people got up from their tables and came and complimented us and the boys on how well mannered and well dressed they were. It was very inspiring to all the parents and individuals in the restaurant. You are doing a great job with your boys.”

Saturday was the National day of service and our ward was invited to help out at the schools. Dad, Adele and Liam went but I went to Neil’s swim meet. It was invitationals so you had to be…invited. Abby was there so I got to see her butterfly. Apparently Matthew went skydiving at one of those indoor wind tunnels. I’m not sure if it was for PT or just like a “make a wish” type of thing but they said he looked like he enjoyed it. From the video it didn’t look like it he hated it but he did look like he was loving it. 

Ward pool party was at Sawyers pool so that was fun to see her. I wasn’t planning on going because it was so humid and hot at the swim meet I thought I was going to be angry about it forever. Then I stopped at the gym on the way home and while it wasn’t hot I was still sweating so I took a shower when I got home and didn’t want to take another so I wasn’t going to go to the pool party but dad was the only bishopric member going since Bishop is at Disney world with Ava Logan and Maddie and the Grandil’s never go to ward parties. Do they? I guess pancake breakfasts I’ve seen them at… I don’t know where they were. So dad and Ian Gilyeat went to Sam’s club and arrived early and I had to drop the kids off. And Colton since Anna didn’t want to go. And Kaleigh Kleiner, since Jenna didn’t want to go. It was hot so I ate snow cone ice and left early since all the cool moms were in the pool. Andreas belly bump is too cute. After the pool party dad was conducting Sister Dibbles daughter in laws baptism. She’s lived with sister dibble for years but I guess today was the day. Sister Jessik  ( the red headed sister that ate dinner with us right before you left) is still here and this is her second baptism in our ward. I was sitting next to Sedona Kirby (you remember her right? She got baptized right before you left) she sat by me at the baptism last night and snuggled all the way through Jane’s song. I recorded it for you, she sounded so pretty. 

Adele really wants your old phone. I really don’t want to give it to her. Dad doesn’t think it’s a big deal. We will see what happens. 

Love you,

Mom

9/12/22

 Weekly Email - Consistency Is nOt My StrongeSt QUALITY

So Big Oops, I totally forgot to write an email last week (no you were not kicked off the email list I promise) so I've decided to write it Before I talk with family from now on. We'll see how long that lasts :)

Anyways! Lots happened in the past two weeks!

Janelle, one of our friends just got married last week and then her new husband baptized her on Friday!!! It was a wild time for them lol. Me and Sister John finally met our friend, Lee, in person! We've only talked to her on the phone so far but getting to see her at church was awesome and then after the ward Corn Bust (I've had the same dinner of Sloppy Joe's, Taber Corn, and watermelon four times now... 3 separate ward corn busts and a ward block party. it's pretty good so I can't really complain tho lol) we had a lesson and I was able to put her back on date!! She's so sweet and has already read though the whole Book of Mormon once, is reading it again more slowly this time, is almost finished reading reading the Doctrine and Covenants which we gave her a week ago, and is reading the Bible, all at the same time! She's amazing :D!!

I also had shawarma (I still say it in the hishe hulk voice in my head every time lol don't judge) for the first time! I got some chicken shwarma from this little place called the Mediterranean Grill and it was sooooo good!!! They also had french fries and garlic sauce which was also amazing!! I would have taken a picture but I was too busy chowin down lol. They were a little pricy but I can definitely see myself trying more of their food.

Also! Apparently! Sister Sellers mom served her mission with my dad. It was pretty funny figuring that out last Monday and since her parents and sister John's parents live in the same area they got together for lunch this week and sent us pics.

Something I've come to realize is that God knows exactly what He is doing. He puts us in proximity to people who are going to make an impact on who we are. My testimony has grown so much in just the two and a half weeks I've been with my companions its crazy. Just yesterday I was in kind of a bad mood, I don't even know why, and we were about to do some Facebook finding before dinner and I knew it would probably make it worse (there may be friends on Facebook but Facebook is not my friend lol), but before we even started Sister Sellers hopped up and said she had an impression to go knock on a family's door she knew of. Right then I knew Heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed to get me out of my bad mood. He sent us on a walk in the nice southern Alberta wind to knock a door that didn't even open and just the knowledge that He knew what I needed kicked me out of my grumpy pants. And then we decided to knock the neighbors door (they were members) and we had an impromptu lesson! that I lead! without fumbling my words! and ice cream before dinner! with peaches! and that turned my whole day around. Heavenly Father knows his children individually and wants all of them to come back to Him.

Which is funny because last week I came across President Hinckley's (40 minute) talk titled "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep" and it made me realize just how important missionary work is, not just for us Missionaries out in the field, but for every single baptized member of the church. When we are baptized we are given the responsibility to share the gospel. All of us know at least one person who needs a little extra love, a little spiritual boost, something to make them feel seen in a world that wants to make everybody feel lost in the chaos. And that's something I wish I'd been better about before I left. We can all share what brings us joy with those around us, and that's really what missionary work is. It's bringing the joy I feel knowing about gospel of Jesus Christ to others :)

I'd like to challenge all y'all reading these emails to be a missionary just a little bit every day.


With much shenaniganary,
Sister Evans <3


and as for pictures, there's a lot and I would add more but Google is yelling at me abt it:
- something was on fire (probably some fields) so there was a lot of smoke making the sunset look almost like AZ sunsets. pretty coolio if I do say so myself. tho the pics don't capture the colors. the sun was literally like magenta

- took some pics in a field. it was sunny so I was rockin the aviators

- it was kinda toasty (like 95 max) so we stopped for slurpies while street contacting

- duckies! in raincoats! they were trapped in the basement, so I brought them upstairs.

- our dinner the next day had to go out of town, so she left us food with that night's dinner and there was a bottle of sparkling grape juice lol. no mom, we're not drinking underage on our missions I promise.

-I have pictures of the BoM I painted for Janelle, it's a pretty sick sunset for never having painted a book before and just winging it with acrylics and Elmer's glue! I don't think I have a pic of the bookmark I water colored for her tho :'(

8/29/22

Dear Ruth- 

I’m trying to buy your coat but it’s not letting me so I’m going to call and see if that works. It won’t. I called and they said no. BUT you can use our credit card to buy it up in Canada. Which seems like the same thing to me. *sigh* I did get a promo code though that will take ten dollars off your order: 8pxd-n5m5

:::Still waiting for your p-day letter home:::

So Adeles signed me up to teach the younger young women how to make bread and that’s what we did last night for mutual. It worked out OK though because I was supposed to make loaves of bread and pigs in the blanket for the daddy daughter dance this evening at the church for Elinors activity day girls. Altogether we made enough bread to bake 21 loaves and I was in the kitchen baking from 6 PM to 1:30 AM. It was a long day. I rewarded myself with some marked down brie cheese that I got the last time I was at the grocery store . It tasted like marked down cheese. Actually that makes it sound like it was gross it didn’t have a flavor it tasted cold. Maybe I should buy myself some legit brie cheese one of these days. 

Do you feel like a mermaid skeleton would have a pelvis? We sell one at work and it’s got a pelvis. It looks weird. I just read an article, and by article I mean meme, that quite reasonably stated that Ariel probably crapped her pants at least once on that first day. AND that Eric couldn’t speak to animals like she could so those two minutes of Kiss the Girl must have been quite troubling. True as well. 

We took Neil out to a sashimi place for dinner last night where they cook the food right at your table for you and then flip food in your mouth and all sorts of silly stuff was super yummy. But I got a text from Liam about halfway through our dinner with a picture of Trudy. He said somethings wrong with Her. Her eyes were all squinty and she was laying there like a lump I don’t know what her problem is. Neil said that she was in his room eating Rollo‘s and Orson said she was in the backyard eating ant killer but she’s also got a huge amount of weeds on her side of the door doggie door  so she might just be having an allergic reaction to the weeds I gave her some Benadryl she seems OK just her eyes are swollen. she is drinking chicken broth fine and seems like herself other than her eyes bothering her. AND I really do think she’s pregnant so that’s good. 

Will you forward Maggie’s farewell to me? I want to add it to the pictures of her on that day and also on the day she was set apart in your mission blog. I have the audio version of her talk below you can listen to. 

Love you! Miss you! mom

Maggie gave her farewell talk on 8/28 and later that evening we went to her open house. 

I asked Elinor who she would be more sad about leaving, Ruth or Maggie. She said she couldn't decide. 

Neil and Orson tag-teaming being punks. 

To Maggie:

Oh my heck I loved reading it!! I read most of it while driving between the two towns I'm over on Friday and the rest of it this morning!! I loved how you focused on trusting the Lord and allowing Him to guide your path because I have been studying that exact thing for like a month straight. Humility and meekness and trusting God to direct you in ways that will be of most benefit to you and those around you takes a lot of faith. And it takes a lot of courage too! In Joshua 1? God tells Joshua to have faith and great courage like four times and in Jeremiah 18 verse 6 (one of my fav verses) It talks about God working with us as a potter works with clay and clay is funny because it can have so many different properties just like people. 

Sometimes, the clay is too soft and needs to be left to dry for a bit, which might feel like abandonment or not getting the answers we want. 

Sometimes, the clay is too hard and has to be wedged or kneaded till it is plastic and workable enough to be used, which can feel like too much change all at once or even like trial after trial keeps hitting nonstop. 

Sometimes, the clay has gone bone dry and must be left to rehydrate in a bucket of water which could feel like drowning in sin or confusion or fear or whatever else is distracting us from Christ. 

Sometimes,  clay remembers how it was shaped before it was turned into a beautiful vase or a sturdy mug or a dependable dinner plate, and it bends or cracks or explodes in the kiln. It forgets The Creator's hand and breaks in the heat of Satan's traps. 

We all have to go through the process of becoming. We all have to go through life becoming more and more like Christ, like God, as we make and keep new and old covenants, as we continue to put our faith in Him and trust that He knows what He is doing. 

Sometimes, the piece does make it through the process of building, bisque firing, glazing and glaze firing. Most pieces come out a bit cracked or slightly misshapen and sometimes the glaze doesn't look exactly how it was supposed to, but those who stayed strong and trusted The Creator have become what He intended them to be: perfected and exalted beings able to dwell in God's presence for all time and eternity with our family all around us. 

Sorry that got rambly. Can you tell I just finished personal study? Anyways I loved your talk and that pic is so he king cute and also my mamma Makin Neil give you a real hug lol!

I wish I could give you a hug too!! I miss you and I can't wait for you to start home MTC!! 

Love Sister Evans <3

9/4 Maggie was set apart as a Missionary!

9/5 Ruths Second P-day but at the river with all the cousins and Aunts and Uncles.

Elinor and Dad twinning as they try to figure out the theft from Ruth's account. While trying to buy a winter coat the transaction wouldn't go through at the same time Dad found out that someone had spent $1500 at a best buy in Milwaukee and then the next day another $800. So. Rude.  

 

First P-day 8/19/22

First P-Day in Canada Monday 8/29/22

Zoom with Maggie Mom and Dad

 

She is serving in Barnwell and Colesdale but will live just outside her mission in Taber. 

Second letter home:

Well howdy Brothers and Sisters! 

Been a long week eh? Well for me it's kind of flown by. Once a wise and learned MTC missionary, now a bumbling baby missionary serving in her first transfer ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ! 

On Wednesday we flew out and spent the day traveling to Canada, all 30 something of us. There were 16 in my group flying to Seattle first and we made it through customs by 5:30ish, but the other group got stuck in San Fransico for a couple hours. We had dinner that night with President Davis and Sister Davis and a couple other mission leaders at the stake building before spending the night in a hotel. 

Thursday morning we went back to the church for breakfast and to meet our companions!! I'm in a trio with Sister John and my trainer, Sister Sellers, serving in Southern Alberta. We're over two towns, Coaldale and Barnwell and the members there are fantastic! It's mostly just farmland and prairies and hills and grass so it's very windy. Also, people keep saying it's super hot right now... and I'm standing there with a sweater on, wishing I had another lol. 

The days usually get to a nice 75ish, (it's been interesting learning how to convert Celsius and Fahrenheit back and forth. Same with kilometers and miles), but it gets chilly in the morning and evenings. What winter is gonna be like I cannot imagine, but I'm going to be so brave about it ᕦ(ò_ó)ᕤ

I should probably get a good coat soon tho lol. 

Anyways, apparently transfers happened right in the middle of Corn fest so we went street contacting there twice and met some really cool people, mostly Mennonite families. We also volunteered to help man a water station during the Corn fest Fun Run on Friday so people could see us missionaries out and about :D

On Sunday we had a lesson with our friend named Jenell who is two weeks out from her baptism date! She's getting married at the end of this week to Westley, a returned missionary so that's also really exciting! She just has one lesson left and a meeting with the bishop and then she's good to go! I haven't known her long but she's already so amazing and I can't wait for our next lesson with her! 

We've had a couple other lessons with members and I'm slowly learning how to talk to people without sounding like a robot or a doofus (＾▽＾)

I am so glad to finally be living free and in the wild of Southern Alberta! Meeting and serving and teaching the people of Barnwell and Coaldale! There's a lot of work to be done and I'm so happy to be a part of it! 

Love Sister Evans <3

its already cold.

handing out water at the corn fest run.

dinner at the corn fest

gift from comp