Dallin's Life With Penguins November 2011

Wow, it is so cool, for us as a family to be able to watch, Dallin's adventure while he serves the Lord in Argentina.  He had the chance to go and see the penguins on P-day.  I'm going to add his letter, because he describes everything better.

Scott and I watched a Nova special about this area, Patagonia.  It showed exactly what Dallin is looking at right now.  Complete desert and then penguins and penguin huts built under the desert brush, strange, very strange.  Hmmmm, but AWESOME!!

I'm thinking these are the people he went to see the penguins with.  Elder Evans and Elder Nelson are the only ones I know.

Elder Evans and Elder Nelson after their service project with the Bolivians

Dear Famyfam

I included the letter that I wrote to the President again. I hope you like those; I´m going to try and answer some of the questions. Yes I saw many a little, squawking, waddling penguin and it was well with me. It was crazy how close we got. We walked out into the desert and then all of a sudden there were penguins at my feet, then as we walked a little farther there were hundreds of them. They would make little nests under the desert bushes like we have there in Arizona. It was funny to see them under the little desert bushes. We were lucky to have seen them; they are migrational and only live here for a few months, but what I learned is that they are very family oriented and would make wonderful, "Mormons."

Yes I get all of your hand written letters. It is so great to sit down and read those at night. Sometimes its hard to read them, because E. Nelson is always laughing and reading me his letters. He is such a funny guy and we get along so well. I don´t have the ability to tell you all about him, but remind me in a few years. Actually time is going by so fast. I have actually been here for a very long time. It is sad to think about. I become sad every time I think about leaving this place. It is going to be harder then it was to leave you my beloveds. Back to the letters that you have written, I just got the Christmas chain letters, oh what joy filled my soul to have read all of the little notes. Mom you are right, notes are the best present that has ever been invented. Please send my regards to all of the participants among the coaching kiddies who wrote the letters. Thank you for having them write on them momma and to all of the families as well. 

I would like to send a letter to Stetson if you could give me his address that would be wonderful. I recently realized how close we are when a family of mine went up there to visit some people. I have heard that they have a funny accent. So we will see how that turns out. This past week we did not have time to go shopping, because we got back late from seeing the Penguins, so we didn´t have much to eat this week. It was mostly flour and oil, but you can get pretty creative, when the food is diminishing and I made many experiment this week.

Dewitt and Polly this one is for you, people general everyday walk around shoes, similar to our tennis shoes that we walk around in everyday, are soccer shoes. Only without the spikes that way they are always ready to play. Oh momma I have a request for Christmas: could you send a few recipes for some basic things. Things like cinnamon roles or cookies so I can add on to the list Lillian made, but they have to be really basic, without fancy things like shortening, completely from scratch.

As you fine little people know the power was out for a day and a half and we were in the middle of a lesson with a less active family right when it cut off. So they whipped out the candles and we continued with the lesson. It ended up being one of my favorite lessons as of yet. E. Nelson said that it was one of the best lessons that he has ever had. It was on the Bread of Life, but what we did in the beginning was brought some flour and made bread with them. Then we went to John 6 and read of the bread of life while the dough was rising, then we went over to 3 Nefi and Matt where the Savior teaches about the sacrament. The best part was that we had the objects and the scriptures then asked the questions and allowed them to teach themselves. The hermano taught the doctrine and the heremana provided the desire to come back to church. We didn´t do anything and they arrived at that conclusion, while she was crying because she missed church and they knew that they are not completing with the commandments of the Lord. Then we left for them to continue the discussion and decide as a family what they were going to do. It was great.

Querido Presidente

Tuvimos una linda semana este semana. I have come to realize how much I have developed as a person so far in the mission. I have grown in my knowledge of the fundamentals of this doctrine and many other areas. As a person I have seen changes in my self. I have become more confident in talking to people who I don´t know, or teaching a big group of people. I think that doing everything in Spanish has made me focus so much on that, that I forget everything else and just focus on the basics. That is something else that I have learned; the fundamentals are inexhaustible. The basics never end in bringing new light, new insights, new perspectives. Before the mission I was hesitant to learn about something such as repentance, because I had thought that I knew all there was about it, but from the mission I have learned that learning from the fundamentals will never end unless we end it.

I have taken your challenge to heart and am reading the Book of Mormon. I had started in Spanish and plan to finish it in Spanish first, but searching the doctrine has brought an apreshiation, that is often not realized until expressed. Every time I read the Book of Mormon I am amazed by the cantidad DE Consuelo y consejo que sale allí.

Our ward has definitely become excited in the work of the Lord. It is fun to watch as we are becoming servants together in this work. We have members that are willing to let us talk to their friends, and will even come with us to teach them. How effective it is when we work together. It is wonderful to see. We are working hard, trying to be creative and find as many people in as many different ways, but we have not seen any fruits of our labor for a very long time, and I don´t know what we can improve. What we need to do better, because we both want to do better, but in what direction we need to go; that has been my question for the past few weeks. There are a few that are really close, but we can´t seem to get through to them for some reason. Even after all of the great lessons that we have had and all of the things that we have done. That is one of the most frustrating things to see. Is someone who knows that it is true but won´t change, or someone who knows how to figure it out but won´t do it.

We have had many opportunities to serve lately. Recently I have relearned the benefits. If nothing else we win a friend and show an example. From this concept I realized that if we want a friend the best way is to do something nice for them; something that is out of  your way that you would not normally do. Although it might be weird at first, the end result is amazing. This Saturday we helped a Bolivian family hacer Una losa, or put the cement roof for the second story. It was great, terrible hard work, but at the end the best feeling of accomplishment and contentment envelops you. He did not have many words to thank us, but as we were leaving I could see the sincerity and love in his eyes. We won the confidence of many people that day.

President I love you, we will be seeing you soon for interviews.

Love Elder Evans

Love you family