Arrowhead Ranch Ward trunk or treat.
Sister Williams has aged a bit in Phoenix.  

Sister Solomon looks like she is enjoying her vacation.

Such great missionaries,  we are fortunate to have them in our Ward.

-Brother Andersen

Elder Kannon Evans

Dearest people that live where elections are next year, and not yesterday,

Bueno. pretty interesting week. It was our first week opening the area here in Derqui 1. We had pretty much no idea where anything was our first 3 or 4 days so that was good! But, we found a few investigators already and we are working on finding even more. Plus we had the most lessons in our district this week, while opening the area! So yeah thats awesome as well :)

But like I said before, the Argentine elections were yesterday. And because its Argentina, its a day incredibly dangerous. Not so much in the provincias where Im at, mostly in Capital. But we were instructed to stay in our apartments ALL DAY after church. So we pretty much just sat there and read or ate for about 10 hours. Ive never felt more useless in my life. But.. We start the week in a little bit and we are going to trabajar A FUL! We are going to see miracles this transfer.

Love you all!

Elder Evans

My companion Elder Fernandez, who is also the human version of Scooby Doo.

Pumpkins, Prison, and Puke

Sister Alex Solomon:

I'm Gorgeous Inside!

Another transfer week, come and gone. I'm certainly glad that I didn't have to move and that I get to stay with my companion. Learning to live with someone 24/7 is super hard and I don't want to have to do it more than is necessary. The only frustrating thing about this transfer is that it ends right in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wish that I knew for sure that I was staying here for Christmas because I don't want to have to leave my Ward members and get to know a completely new ward for Christmas. Although I am sure I will be happy wherever I am.

This week has been somewhat interesting mostly because of all of our Halloween activities that have been happening. This last Saturday night we had a ward trunk or treat that we got to be costume judges at. It was super fun and they had a lot of good mac & cheese, chili, and cornbread. We don't have a lot of costume options for sister missionaries but I was able to dress up as a hula girl because I borrowed a Hawaiian shirt, a lei, and I carried around my ukulele. We decorated our bikes with Halloween decorations and bows and strobe lights and filled up the baskets with candy for the trunk or treat. The kids loved it! I'll have to find pictures for you.

On to investigators! There is this lady that we have been teaching whose name is Michelle. She has been coming to church every week since January but has never met with missionaries until I got here. It's really hard to schedule with her because she lives alone and does not answer her phone or her door so we always have to schedule a lesson with her when we see her at church on Sunday. She has been on vacations for a little while this past month and then we also had General conference and stake conference so we haven't met with her in like a month. This Sunday, however, she was there and she came up to us and said, "Sisters! You have to come see me this week! I bought pumpkins for you to carve!" Haha! So we went to her house and carved pumpkins! It was awesome! She also baked pumpkin cheesecake for us and it was probably the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.

My pumpkin! I picked the pattern for you, mom!

We found two new investigators this weekend! We received a headquarters referral for a woman named Nicole so we decided to go to her house and see if she was interested. When we got there, her husband answered the door. We were a little wary at first because we knew that he was supposed to be in prison. Apparently he had just gotten out of prison a few days before we got there. Anyway, we introduced ourselves and said that we wanted to just see if Nicole was still interested and he just looked at us and said, "I am!" We were really surprised! So we set up a lesson with him for the next day which was Saturday. We taught the lesson of the restoration to both Nicole and her husband Clint and it went really well. They both said they would be willing to get baptized! He had been taught by LDS services in prison and said it was the first time he believed in God. They wanted to come to church but they said they would feel more comfortable going to church if they had a tour of the building first. They wanted to come to church the next day so they decided that they were going to take a church tour that evening. So, we got in a lesson, a second lesson, and a church tour with them all in one day! The only sad part is that Clint cannot get baptized because there is the possibility of him having to go back to prison for at least 10 years...oops.

Fun facts for this week: we have a new sister living with us. Her name is Sister Bauer. She is from Oregon and she seems really nice and cool but I don't want to speak too soon. You never know when someone is going to let their crazy out.

Also, my companion and I were at a potential investigators house last night. She was really nice and she wants us to come back! But, while I was saying goodbye outside her door, my companion looked at me and said, "Sister Solomon, I'm going to take this back to the car..." And she ran out of there! I was shocked because I was still talking to the lady and my companion left me! Well, I said goodbye and started to head back toward the car. When I got there, I saw my companion in the next-door neighbor's driveway on her hands and knees. When I got closer she totally threw up all over the driveway and gutter. It was nasty! She had been feeling pretty gross all day though. So it was a good thing that she felt better after that and we had a great laugh on the way home but it was kind of awkward that she puked on someone's driveway.

Things are going well and I miss all of you! Let me know about your crazy lives.

LOVES

Halloween Costume Party

Wayne and Melissa's house

Saturday, October 24

Tylee & Austin - Just a little cleavage!
(I hear Grandma Evans actually helped them sew it together! haha)

Biker Gang
Pledger & Michelle Solomon, Paul & Kim Roundy

Witchy Women - MaryLynn & Debbie
(YES, MaryLynn can drive a stick)

Charlie Brown & Lucy - Wayne & Melissa

Deb & Randy had a gal in their ward do their makeup... it was AWESOME!
Randy was in character all night long speaking like Dracula - too funny.

Kevin & Cynthia as the Robertson's on Duck Dynasty

Denver and Vicki
Hahaha... words can't describe!

Dr. Chuck to the rescue!
The bloody gash on Snick's arm scared Meg and she wouldn't come near.

Lots of great food - YUM!

Elder Kannon Evans

Dearest people that.... that... yeah I got nothing this week,

Well.. I got transferred. Saying goodbye to all the members and converts sucks a lot. But I gratefuly for this new oppurtunity I have to serve in Derqui :) My new companion is Elder Fernandez from Chile. He got transferred from a slum in capital so we are going to be contacting A FUL! Annnnndddddd... we are opening an area. Went straight from being trained to opening an area that neither of us know.. so yeah thats awesome! :) Definitely going to learn a lot from my new companion and our experiences over these next 6 weeks. :)

My scripture from this past week, D&C 122:7-9 :)

 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

 8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

 9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

Love you all! Thank you for your prayers and all your support :)

Elder Evans

DONE TRAINING

Sister Alex Solomon:

Well it has definitely been an interesting week. To start, I did not get transferred and neither did my companion! I'm really excited about that actually because now we are friends and I didn't want to have to try getting along with a new companion again. I think I'm a difficult person to live with....oops. While we are on the subject of transfers, I'm not in a trio anymore and it makes me so happy! ANOTHER sister (who happened to come out at the same time as me) went home this week. She wasn't sick or anything. She just decided that she didn't want to work hard. I guess the whole 18-month commitment that you signed up for thing didn't really mean much to her. Anyway, I'm super glad that our third sister in our trio now has a new temporary companion because I was getting real sick and tired of her being in our business all the time. IM SO GLAD ITS OVER. I love her but I just can't do it anymore.

On the bright side of things, it has been raining like CRAZY this week. I love it so much and I have decided that someday I want to live in western Washington. Or maybe Oregon. I don't know. I love rain and want it all the time. The only bad thing was that because of crazy hail storms that are currently happening, a bunch of power poles have been knocked over on our main road and everyone has been out of power. Ours came on early yesterday morning which was great but we have some Ward members who still don't have power. We also have Ward members whose houses have a giant power pole going through their roof now. It's sad. I'll send a video of right after it happened.

So we had a baptism this Saturday! It was amazing! But I still kind of feel like I can't take any of the credit because Chris had been taught by so many sisters before me. I really did nothing there so I never felt like he was MY investigator, you know? I'm still waiting for someone to get baptized who I actually got to witness the conversion with. Keep your fingers crossed for Chloe and Colleen! Chloe is ready to get baptized but her grandpa wants to do the baptism and is currently not worthy. Also, Colleen wants to get baptized with Chloe but she is still smoking like 2 packs a day ...awkward....PLUS, there is the issue of Chloe's parents both being in prison and not wanting her to get baptized...it's an interesting situation all around.

I went on exchange to the most ghetto area of our mission the other day. It's the farthest south that our mission goes so it's almost to downtown Phoenix. I absolutely loved it! We met crazy people and a drug dealer and it was the coolest thing ever. People in my area never let us in because they're so rich but those poor people let you right in and take care of you and want to learn. It was awesome! But there was a gross hair in my food for dinner that night and that was probably the worst part. My companion for that day is named Sister Dudley. She's from London! How cool is that?! We had a long discussion about Sherlock and it was the coolest. She told me I should come stay with her sometime. (Side note: I got my ukulele in the mail this week *thanks mom* and I played Traveling Soldier by the Dixie Chicks for her and she totally cried at the end)

Anyway, sister Dudley is the best and when I do get transferred someday, I don't want it to be to the flagstaff zone. I want to be Phoenix North all the way! Apparently not a lot of sisters want to go there so I'll let the president know that I'm all for it. 

Overall, it has been a good week. My roommates have been crying and throwing fits a lot because of all the crazy things that have been happening with transfers and storms and I just think it's the most hilarious thing. They're all weenies. I love them. But they are

weenies.

LOVES

p.s. Elder Jenkins (Milo's nephew, Chase) sent me an email talking about how he met Elder (Kannon) Evans! He had some good things to say so I will forward some of it.

"Hey so i met Elder Evans. What a humble stud!!!! met and baptized one of my old investigators!! So we talked and boy i love the kid he is so cool and humble and only speaks spanish. Diligent little missionary." Haha.

Elder Kannon Evans

Dearest people that arent getting fat because they dont have a bakery 20 feet from their apartment,

First of all.. not complaining. Getting fat and loving it. 

Wow. What a week. Up and down pretty much the entire week. First of all, we are going to find so many people through Juan! He knows pretty much everyone here in Grand Bourg! His party for his wedding was at the church, and a lot of his family and the family of his wife said they felt something really special about the building and the members. Juans aunt passed by when we were visiting him, we taught her about the restoration, and she accepted a baptismal date! Miracle!

Second, we went to visit a family that didnt go to church yesterday, just to see if everything was okay. We went to their house and their was a family of about 7 with them. And of course with us being missionaries, we taught them. The parents both accepted a baptismal date for the first of Novemeber, but they want to be baptized before! Already they have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. they even told us that they want to be missionaries like us! Miracle!

The down part, Im being transfered. Yeah.. My companion got a call that hes going to be a trainer here in Grand Bourg, so yeah I know Im leaving this next week. But still.. knowing that Ive helped these people recieve the gospel makes me so happy and I feel so blessed! 

Love you all!

Elder Evans :) 

Sister Alex Solomon

This week has been super interesting! To start off, one of our roommates had a leadership meeting that we dropped her off for. When we picked her up, she started freaking out about how one of the sisters in our zone had been sick for 3 weeks and was sent home. SO Sister Wood's companion got emergency transferred to be with the sick girl's companion. Because of that, Sister Wood, Sister Williams, and I are now in a trio until the 21st which is the next transfer. It was really unexpected and we are all stressed out. Fortunately, we have been roommates with her for 3 months already so we all get along. Unfortunately, we are now all covering 3 wards and our schedules were already put together. So we are working on figuring all that out.

One of our investigators had his baptismal interview this week and it went great! He is all set to be baptized this Saturday and I am so excited! But I don't really get to count him as my convert since other sisters were here who actually taught him everything. So I'm still waiting for the investigators who get baptized because I taught them! I'm sure it will happen someday. We took Chloe and Colleen off date this week because we finally had the word of wisdom lesson and Colleen is not happy about the whole no smoking thing....hopefully they will come around! Because of trio problems, I will be on my own with a member to go teach them this week while the other 2 sisters work in other wards. Wish me luck!

We had our last meeting for those of us still in our 3 month training period. During the meeting, President Griffin came and stood in front of my row and looked right at me as he said, "I make it a goal to never judge a missionary in their first week or even their first

transfer. I have seen some of you grow so fast into marvelous missionaries. I have great expectations for you in the future." It made me want to cry, I was so happy! I caught his eye right before the closing prayer from the stand and he winked at me and it was pretty

great!

Fun facts for this week: Elder Montoya spoke at our stake conference which was pretty awesome. Also, I went on exchange in Phoenix North with a temporary companion who told me all about how October is an evil month because Halloween is a holiday literally celebrating Satan worship. It was super interesting. I learned so much. Not.

LOVES

It rained this week! Like, a lot!

Mushrooms, mice, and lots of old men

This week has been pretty normal but it has been raining a lot the past couple days which is awesome! ("A lot"...haha) something I have noticed about Arizona: it is filled with crazy drivers and not a single one of them knows how to drive in the rain. I shudder when I think of what would happen were it ever to snow here. They're all insane.

We were having dinner this week with this cute little old lady. She fed us this enchilada dip that was okay but tasted kind of weird. I wasn't a huge fan. But then she started talking about how she made it and it was totally LOADED with mushrooms. I thought I was going to spew all over her table. It was awful and my companion was just looking at me and silently shaking with laughter. After dinner, the lady said she always gives missionaries some of her Knick knacks so they can remember her so she practically forced me to take this little brass mouse that has a "made in Korea" sticker on it. She was so excited that now I have a "real Korean brass" mouse. I'll send you a picture because it's kind of creepy. I kind of love it for that reason.

Sooooo general conference happened! Everyone told me I was going to love it as a missionary and I didn't fully believe them but they were totally right! It was awesome! This sounds bad but I think I can honestly say it was the first time in my life where I actually soaked up meaning from every single talk. I think it helped that I was watching it with investigators though.

No offense to everyone out there that thinks they are special but all of the general conference talks this time were specifically aimed at the missionaries in the Arizona Phoenix Mission. Remember how I talked about mission tour a couple weeks ago? Yeah, we had awesome front row training with Elders Bradley Foster and Hugo Montoya. And who spoke at conference? Yeah. Both of them. Also, a bunch of people quoted our transfer scripture! Every transfer, our president picks a scripture that we have to memorize and this time it was Alma 7:12. Not only that but we have 3 investigators who are getting baptized and have a hard time with testimonies of living prophets and apostles and how they are chosen. What a perfect conference to watch! D. Todd Christofferson's talk was perfect for the people we were watching it with too.

Anyway, conference was great and I got to do a lot of sitting, eating, and watching tv. So that was good. Although I had a really hard time watching President Monson give his talk. He was having such a hard time and I've never heard him rush a talk like that. Poor guy. We don't have a lot of time left with him, I think. On the bright side, I think the new apostles are pretty bomb. Rasband is probably my favorite new one but it's funny because I think Renlund looks and talks like John Malkovich. I thought it was funny and told my roommates but of course they didn't get it because they don't know who John Malkovich is. So I laughed to myself.

So overall, it was good week. Things are moving forward still but it's starting to slow down a little bit. I don't even care though because it's still moving forward and all the high temperatures this week are under 100. So I'm good!

Wedding/Conference/Baptism

Dearest people that watched General Conference in English,

Im happy. 

2-Week Field Trip!

Wayne & Melissa are home-schooling their kids this year, so they were fortunate to be able to take a two-week "field trip" during the last half of September. Mom went along to help out with the kids. On Facebook, Melissa wrote "We had so much fun on our family adventure. 3,300 miles, 8 states, 4 National parks, 2 Dodger games, 1 Triple D restaurant, finally got to try the famous Big Fat Lunch Box. And lots of good times with family and friends!"