Adventures With Elder Evs: Feliz Navidad

Every Christmas and Mother's Day, families are able to Skype or call their missionary out in the field to catch up and visit with them. This was our first Skype call with Evan & it did not disappoint! Although, the complete dork told us to be waiting by the computer at 4pm instead of 5pm because he didn't calculate the hour difference between Mexico & California correctly! These are some pictures in emails he has sent the past couple of weeks with some funny stories. Plus, at the bottom of the post there is a video of Evan wishing his friends & family a Merry Christmas!

"Yeah, today, went with a member to her ranchito today, and starting whistling to the parrot there. We got along so well, it climbed on my shoulder, and chilled there for a good 20 mins. One of the members said it fell asleep on my shoulder!"

My mom sent 2 packages for Christmas over a month ago to ensure it would be there by the end of December, and because the last decorated box we sent got held in customs for 2 months she sent small & plain boxes. Evan got one box well over a month before Christmas and ripped it open not knowing it was his present! He luckily received the other one box later & saved it for Christmas day. And above is one of his favorite breakfast meals, pancakes with peanut butter & syrup! 

"One of the members in our ward has a real Christmas tree, like a real pine tree. When we entered her house to eat, it smelled really good and we wondered what potpourri she bought to make the house smell so good. No, it was too good to be true. He had a real Christmas tree! I enjoyed the moment with a few pics :) For the record, pine trees are not found so easily in the Villahermosa, Mexico mission."

"This is the Santos Family (o la familia Santos en español), and they are awesome! We're going to baptize the father when he comes back from working in Ciudad de Carmen."

We had a nice & long Skype chat with our favorite missionary, which was honestly the highlight of my Christmas day! We got to meet his companion, Elder Angeles, for a quick minute; and we got to hear Evan's pretty awesome accent. Definitely made my stomach drop because I have got a lot of work to do..the goal is to be semi-fluent by Christmas next year so I can surprise him on our Skype call. Evan sang a little Christmas song here for his friends & family, hope you enjoy it! 

Adventures With Elder Ev's: Transfer to Agua Dulce, Veracruz

Latest Update {he has been in his new area for 2 weeks now}:

"With the start of the new transfer, I got a call...I'm going to Veracruz! I'm going to be training in the area of Agua Dulce, Cuatzacoalcos zone. This is crazy, because of the huge change (I'm traveling from Chiapas all the way to Veracruz!). My new companion's name is Elder Angeles, who is from Mexico City."

Baptism of Rafael in Palenque {pictured above, from 3 weeks ago}:

"The best experience from this past week was the appointment that Elder Peterson and I had with his investigator, who was getting ready for his baptism that Saturday. Elder Peterson and his companion were going to move Rafael's baptism date a week back, but Rafael said he was ready for that Saturday. He told me that he went from smoking everyday and having no purpose whatsoever, to changing little by little because of the time he spent with another member and came to a full conversion experience. He was the ideal convert! From the scripture D&C 4: 'Behold, the field is white, already to harvest...' he was personally prepared by the Lord, and was more than ready to be baptized. My heart was filled with indescribable joy, despite him not being my investigator. This is testimony building for me, there are people out there being prepared by the Lord."

"It was an awesome baptism, I played I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus on the piano while the Elders sang. It was really fun!"

{Eating dinner with a member family in Palenque, pictured above from 3 weeks ago}

On his new companion, Elder Angeles:

"My companion is awesome! I'm really blessed to have him as my companion. Elder Angeles is very nice, talkative, open, and happy to be on a mission. I am so glad to have him as a companion, and even more happy to be training. He helps to clarify things when people don't understand me, we have a great relationship."

On his new are, Agua Dulce {pictured above, he has now been there for 2 weeks}:

"This past week, I will forever be grateful for the members here and for their help. The ward here {yes, it's a ward!}, is actively engaged in missionary work! I've accompanied the Bishop to a few lessons already. It makes me excited to work in this area!"

"Agua Dulce has been raining on and off here. And mental note, the agua here is not dulce. It's pretty dang disgusting. We are pretty lucky to have such an awesome apartment right next to some pretty awesome members. And also...it doesn't get flooded in our apartment like some of the other elder apartments."

On the pizza dinner {pictured above}:

"Had family home evening with Gustavo and his family. Had pizza {pay de queso}, and a lot of fun! That is rebanada {leftovers} de pizza with Habanero sauce...yeah, I ate that. Soy patron {I'm the man}!

*Read more from the Adventures With Elder Evs series!*

My Partner in Crime

This past Monday when I was logged into gmail I noticed that Evan was online sending his weekly email, so I sent off a short: "HI EVAN!!!" Knowing that he is busy, I was just hoping that I might be able to catch him. He sent a quick response: "Hey, I know you want to chat but I don't have that much time. I hope you like all the pictures I sent. Remember to keep studying your Spanish! Love you a ton! I'll send you an email next week :)" 

Evan and I are 15 months apart, which means we are about as close to twins as you can get and definite partners in crime. He is my opposite in more ways than one; where I'm loud he is usually quiet and where I'm more artsy/creative he is very math/science minded. Although, we've always bonded over ballroom dancing, jazz music, and reading. He has already been out on his mission for 6 months, and it feels like the time has gone by so fast! Then I try not to think of the year and a half still left to go.

I have Evan's old laptop and used his Spotify account for my Jazz History class. While looking through some of his random playlists I found one filled with Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and other similar music...I listened to a few songs and started to get teary eyed. He is the only other family member who has a passion for jazz music like myself, and suddenly it made my heart hurt. 

{There is Jesse crying about being Pegasus, hahaha}

I remembered a time about a year and a half ago when I drove to school late at night, by myself {from Orem, 15 min away} to take an exam in the testing center. Upon finishing the test and looking at my score on the screen, I realized that I had bombed it. My heart sunk. I sulked down to the freshmen dorms where my car was parked and texted Evan, asking him where he was at. He responded that he was finishing up some dinner, but would come and say hi before I went home {not knowing what he was walking in to}. I waited by the exit to his dorm building and saw Evs walk out of the cafeteria building. I had held it in for so long, and was planning on holding it in 'till I got back to the house...but when I saw him, all the tears over this dumb test came flowing out. 

He immediately gave me a warm hug, then took my keys & backpack off my hands, put his arm around me and we walked to the car. He hopped in the drivers seat, popped in his iPod and turned on some upbeat jazz music. Then went on to tell me about all the interesting tidbits he was learning in his Jazz History class, rambling just to get my mind off the failed test. He started driving around and we found ourselves at 7-11, where he knows my favorite hot chocolate resides. He paid for both of our cups, we got back in the car and drove around town talking about happy stuff until I calmed down. Such a simple & thoughtful gesture from one of my best friends of 20 years, {kind of like that one time he biked almost 7 miles, in the night, to see me on my birthday}. I ventured home with a smile on my face...feeling infinitely loved.

{Left: we used to climb on the fence to say hi and talk to the people on the main street walking by...hence being partners in crime! Right: The Doctor, who is not impressed with our outfits.}

That's why he is my best friend & brother, he just gets me.  

Miss & love ya Elder Evs, can't wait until you're home!

Adventures With Elder Ev's: Transfers + Snakes

I bring to you another installment of Adventures With Elder Ev's! They are updates of Evan in the mission field in Palenque, Mexico along with some fun stories. We just got word that his companion is being transferred to a different part of the mission after being in Palenque for 6 months, which now makes Elder Evs the resident expert on everything Palenque and Pakal-Na. He has been promoted to senior companion and will be paired up with a native companion named Elder Barerra. Elder Evs will be showing his companion along with another missionary companionship how to navigate the two areas.

About the above picture of Elder Evs reading scriptures by candlelight:
"A rainstorm that we had took down the electricity in our apartment. So, that night we had no electricity, and did daily planning with candles and sleep without fans. Meaning it was a blazing hot night!"

About running into some Americans:

"Elder Love and I ran into Mormons from Utah!!!! Holy crap!!! We left the chapel after movie night and was making our way to our apartment when out of the darkness we hear "Hey look, it's the Elders!" in an American accent!!! It was a Mormon family visiting Palenque! Their son served in the Villahermosa mission and returned this past January. He was there with his family and we got to talk to him. Man, it was so weird talking in English again." {And yes, he really did put that many exclamation marks in there}

About this nasty snake picture:

"One morning the Relief Society President calls us to come over to the capilla {chapel} for a surprise. We come to see a python in a cage with a dead chicken. She told us her story: She wakes up at one or two in the morning to hear her chickens flipping out. She gets up, thinking that a rat or some other pest was just getting the chickens flustered. She opens the door, almost takes a step outside with a python by the door with the dead chicken next to it. She screamed and called someone over to take care of it. She works at a tourist shop right next to the ruins in Palenque, so she released it there. She told us a lot of the tourists were taking pics of her releasing the snakes." GROSS. SICK NASTINESS. 

And why did she release it in the tourist-y part of town?! Questions that will forever go unanswered...

About me...

"And Bri, start practicing your Spanish"

Oops.

Adventures With Elder Ev's: First Month in Mexico

If you are new to this blog, then let me introduce to you my brother Evan, one of my bestest friends! He is currently serving a 2-year LDS mission in Villahermosa, Mexico and I thought it would be fun to share his pictures, adventures, and mission updates! March 6th he went into the MTC {missionary training center} in Provo, UT...then was in McAllen, Texas for about a month and a half waiting for his Visa to go through...and has now been in Mexico for a little over a month.

He is currently in Palenque which is in the state of Tabasco, only a 2 hour bus ride away from the capital Villahermosa. It is completely surrounded by jungle, rains on & off, and is humid {which means he sweats pretty much all day every day}. They are not allowed to knock doors and they teach those who are referred by church members. 

About the pizza pictured above:

"Amazing enough, there's actually pizza in Palenque. 50 pesos each for a jumbo pizza and 3 litres of orange refresco. Also, awesome fact to know, I'm not allowed to have any form of a dark colored soda, especially coke. So, I won't have coke for 2 years...funstuff."

About the baptism of their newest convert Juan:

"We have a son of a member, about 16 years old, he works everyday but really wants to be baptized. He came to church yesterday, but had to leave right after sacrament for work. I'm looking forward to his baptism at the end of this transfer on July 6th."

"Elder Love and I had a great end to our transfer. After all our efforts we baptized one joven {youngster}, se llama Juan."

How he feels about his mission so far:

"It truly is the best 2 years. Looking back on the 4 months I've had so far on my mission, I can't think of a bad moment on my mission, because they are so many fun and great experiences that I've had."

About the weather/sleeping arrangements in Villahermosa:
"And as far as your bed situation...don't even get me started. Two words that make the difference between your situation and mine: aire condicionado {air conditioning}. I bet Ryan truly appreciates it after serving in Honduras for 2 years. Not to mention, since my apartment is made of stone and is on the top floor, it gets all the sunlight, and therefore feels like a sauna. Heat plus humidity equals a freaking sauna. I am in the habit of sleeping with a fan on me all night. I sweat pretty much constantly here."

About his companion Elder Love:

"He had long hair before his mission. Like, mega long! He showed a picture of his hair to some members at comida {food} on Sunday and she compared him to Justin Bieber. I laughed my head off and said to him: "Tiene la fiebre Bieber?" {Do you have Biber-fever?}"

Biggest hurdle to overcome with investigators:

"The main issue really here is marriage. About 3-4 of our investigators are not married and it's really difficult because 2 of the husbands are borrachos {drunk}. So, it's not our investigators holding up on us, it's their husbands and we have asked if we can talk to them. One of the spouses said he didn't see the point, although he's been living with her for 13 years."

About the Mayan ruins in Palenque:

"I'm going to start out with the ruins...it was fun! It was kind of like the ruins at Chitzanitza (however you spell it...freaking native american word that isn't completely Spanish). We had a member from the church who works at one of the tiendas show us around. It was awesome."

"Side note: heard the howler monkey today, but didn't see it. I'll try to get a pic next time I go to the ruins."

"And patience Bri, you will have your howler monkey pic. I just have to find one first."

{Howler monkeys are found throughout the jungle surrounding Palenque, I have requested that Evan track one down and take a picture with it}

About learning Spanish:

"Time feels a little longer for me cause I still can't understand people thoroughly yet, but I have a feeling that once I know how to speak and understand the language, time is going to fly. Seriously, this past friday at la noche de cine {movie night} we watched "The Best 2 Years". My gosh, freaking hilarious movie. Too bad it was all in Spanish dub. You know that part when Elder Calhoun and Elder Vampelt go and buy bread and Elder Calhoun tries to ask for bread in Dutch? The expression on his face when the lady asks him a question is how I feel almost 80% of the time in Spanish, especially when they speak really fast."

This is our first package we have sent to Evan now that he is in Mexico. We stuffed the package with: peanut butter, nutella, starburst, snickers, twix, gum, 6 cds filled with music {Skyrim soundtrack, LOTR, Zelda with a surprise song from Go West}, cd player, 4 white shirts, Axe hair gel, and 5 ties. We topped it off with a picture drawn by my mom of Evan in the jungle with his new howler monkey friend :)

What They Don't Tell You

There are so many ordinary experiences in life that people go through, but hardly talk about.

One of those things I'm going to add to that list now is sending off an LDS missionary.

Wow.

It happens all the time, every Wednesday in fact; 

and I've honestly not ever heard much about the experience from a family's perspective.

Which has pretty much left me completely unprepared for this hole I'm feeling in my heart.

It wasn't until today that I started pulling some of these pictures together for a post when I made the mistake of stopping and looking at the pictures...for a little too long.

I saw the massive grin on Evan's face, it tugged at my heart, 

and then I proceeded to totally break down on campus.

{So if you saw a random blonde in the HFAC crying, you've caught me!}

I promise you that it really is a happy thing for my brother to go on an LDS mission.

Missionaries are sent around the world to teach others about how we can be with our families forever, they learn to not only love the culture but also the people they serve in their mission. 

What no one told me, is that sending off one of my best friends was going to be this difficult.

He is 15 months younger than I, and has been my sidekick for forever.

Now that he is gone and the only communication I can have with him is through letters?

Gosh, it makes me sad.

But then I took a moment to look over these pictures again... 

the ones where he is hugging each member of the family with a smile plastered on his face from ear to ear.

Then it hits me...I'm not only crying because I'm sad.

It's because I also feel this overwhelming sense of love, pride, and accomplishment for my brother.

It's awfully easy to misinterpret the two because they actually go hand in hand.

I'm sad because I have this hole in my life where he used to snuggly fit. 

Now I have to figure how to patch it all up until he comes back.

Then I am so overcome with joy that he is not only doing the right thing but that he is where he wants to be.

 I couldn't be more happy for him!

 It was time for him to finally move on to the next chapter of his life. 

Who knew that being happy was so confusing?

Until he comes back I'll be posting about his experiences and adventures on a separate blog {for whomever wants to follow}, and I will be posting about all the fun and creative packages I will be sending him :)

Any pointers for families on how to get through this first week?

Missionary Picture Book

As a belated birthday/mission present, I'm making Evan a little picture book to take with him for his 2-year mission in Mexico.

This way he has pictures to show the people he is teaching who his family is and where he is from.

It's also to make sure that he remembers what we even look like when he is out there!

These are only some of the collages and pictures I pulled together of friends/family & of Evan's projects or adventures. Can't wait to see what he thinks of it all :)

Evan goes into the Provo MTC two weeks from tomorrow, so excited for him!

He'll be there learning the language for 6 weeks then he is off to Villahermosa, Mexico {down south, near the Guatemala border}.

So be expecting some creative missionary packages to be featured here on the blog :)

{I've already pinned a truckload of ideas to my 'Missionaries' board}

Any good ideas of what to send to missionaries living in another country?

Evan's Temple Day

Here is my second outfit with the Jcrew chartreuse sweater, which I donned with a gifted Banana Republic dress, Steve Madden nude heels, a gold glitter belt, and a Francesca's mint necklace.

Let's just excuse the fact that I'm butt white, and just ooh and ahhh at the amazing and elongating nude Steve Madden heels. I got them for 20 bucks at Ross, SCORE!

This past weekend, Ryan & I bolted down to St. George {a 4 hour drive from Provo}, to meet up with my family and go through the temple with Evan in preparation for his LDS mission to Mexico!

It was a calming & much needed experience.

I love reconnecting with family and Heavenly Father so I can re-focus my life :)

Anddddd if you couldn't tell, I'm now a Cafe Rio model!

We definitely narfed down some delish pork salads after going through the temple.

We all rounded up back in the parking lot, said our goodbyes, and Evan came back with Ryan & I to Provo to spend a few days with us and visit. 

How do you girls {of any faith} find time to reconnect with your spiritual side?

I'm always so all over the place that I forget that I need to sloooow down!

I'm sure everyone feels that way every now and then :)