Brad Evanson Receives Eagle

President and Sister Evanson's son Brad received his Eagle Scout award May 21, 2008.
Brad has been a very positive influence on the young men and women of the Macon Ward as well as in his school and community.

Last Zone Leader Council...

...for Evansons and Elder Barnett. I'm a little slow in posting. This council was held on May 20. Standing: Elders Wood, Fister, Forbes, Silva, Levesque, Dilts, Morgan, Tanner, Slade, Rich, Crane, Shelman, D. Smith, Murray and French. Seated: Elders Parker, C. Clark, Sister Evanson, President Evanson and Elder Barnett.

Sister Trappett from Smithfield, Utah

May 24, 2008: Sister Verna Trappett arrived in Georgia ready to go to work. Below she is greeted by Sister Tanner and Sister Brumage.

President Evanson and Sister Trappett in front of the mission home.

More Alumni Shots...

Elder Hunt and Kindra...

Sadie Hanks and her parents and friends...

Sister Redman and Sister Devey at Sister Redman's Homecoming...

We love seeing what you are up to. Keep sending pictures and information.

Sister Hedrick...Our California Girl

Sister Hedrick is heading back to California. Georgia will miss this West Coast girl. She has touched lives and loved people. Sister Tanner and Sister Brumage are pictured below with Sister Hedrick.

Sister Evanson cuts her loose. We'll miss her smile.

Macon Tornado Damage & Helping Hands

President Evanson, Brother Grigsby giving out assignments as Mormon Helping Hands gets underway Saturday May 17 at the Macon Chapel. Mormon Helping Hands at a member's home and at other homes in the community.

Macon Tornado Damage & Helping Hands

The tornadoes that hit south Macon about 5 AM on Mother's Day Sunday, May 11, 2008 caused extensive damage to homes and businesses but no death or injury. The chapel was only slightly damaged but many trees were blown over and had to be removed.

Yellow shirted "Mormon Helping Hands" missionaries and members chip up branches at the Macon Ward. The big logs were taken away in a big dumpster by the Peacocks.

A member family's apartment was severly damaged -- she was in the bathtub and he in a closet when this occurred.

Welcome To Elder Tracy and Sisters Neider and Drinkall

The Georgia Macon Mission has three new missionaries. Arriving this afternoon were Elder Tracy, Sister Drinkall and Sister Neider. They will stay in the mission home tonight and then be out in their new areas by tomorrow evening. We look forward to working with them. Welcome!

Transfer Week After The Storms!

From the pictures below you can see we've recovered nicely from the tornadoes that hit Macon on Sunday morning. The sirens started about 5:00am and we (President and I) turned on the TV to track what was happening so we could alert missionaries. We found the major part of the storm right on us. By 8:00am the major force had passed and it was time to assess the damage. Church had been canceled and so we started out, under the direction of our bishop, to check on ward members. The missionaries had already been alerted and were fine. What I saw Sunday as we made our way from address to address reinforced my belief that we are not in charge. When two EF2 tornadoes are let loose in a forest (with lots of houses and businesses between the trees) it was truly a miracle there were no deaths or major injuries in the Macon area. Trees snapped like toothpicks, power lines were down everywhere, roofs collapsed, shingles flew and yet everyone was OK. When we got home Sunday night we were really grateful, and we wished we'd taken a camera...oh, well the memory of what we saw will remain for a long time. The pictures below are much happier!
The departing group...Sisters Van Patten, Redman and Stokes; Elders Rogers, Morgan (assist.), Gropper, Tanner (assist), Wood (assist). (Elders Morgan, Tanner and Wood are staying.)

Last day in the mission. They're in the yard at the mission home. You can see our part of Macon missed the tornados. We did have high winds, rain, lightning, thunder, etc.

On the porch...

Elder Tanner cutting Elder Gropper loose.

Elder Rogers and Elder Wood.

Sister Redman and Sister Evanson.

Elder Morgan and Sister Van Patten.

Sister Evanson and Sister Stokes.

Augusta, Savannah North and Savannah South...

We finished the zone conference tour yesterday in Savannah. What a great group of elders and sisters.
I'm sure you are all looking forward to the Mother's Day call. Let me just quote what the missionary handbook says, "You may telephone your parents on Christmas and one other time during the year (usually Mother's Day), according to guidelines from your mission president. Take care that these calls do not pull your thoughts away from your service.... Keep them short (preferably no longer than 30 or 40 minutes). Other than these calls, do not telephone family members or friends unless you have permission from your mission president." We're grateful that they are able to visit with you, and hope you will do all you can to help them stay focused on their work. We love them and the mission needs their attentive service. Thank you for all of your support. Augusta Zone: Top: Elders Slade, Corbridge, Jackson, Randall, Beard, Ogden, Snow, Thompson, Rowell, Beverley, Morgan; Middle: Elders Fister, Wood, Poole, Jeff Hall, Rogers, Warr, Conlin, Fuhriman, Spencer, Bell; Seated: Sisters Thomas and Barnes, President and Sister Evanson and Sister and Elder Nielson.

Savannah North Zone: Top: Elders Gardner, Fowers, Blackmer, Foster, Bingham, French, Koelling, Benjamin, Kimball, Beacham; Middle: Elders Wood, Morgan, President and Sister Evanson, Sister and Elder Harper; Kneeling: Elders Alvord, Manning, Skinner, Tanner, Price, Martin and Takapu.

Savannah South Zone: Top: K. Nielson, T. Wayman, P. Smith, Brunson, McKee, Forbes, Wood, Bingham, Morgan, Heiner; Seated: Elder and Sister Larsen, President and Sister Evanson, Sisters Hedrick, Tanner, Brumage; On the floor: Elders A. Hall, Sharpe, Molis, Collings.

Zone Conferences...Macon, Albany, Douglas

Zone Conferences began in Macon on April 29. We were in Albany on April 30 and then on to Douglas on May 1. The emphasis was on finding and sacrifice. The missionaries will be helping the ward missions focus on key indicators and then setting goals for the next month based on those indicators. We'll be in Augusta on May 6 and Savannah on May 7. Watch for pictures from those zones next weekend.
Macon Zone: Top: Elders Wood, Horan, Talbot, Pettingill, Mortensen, Woody, Morgan, Jenson, Spendlove; Mass in the Middle: Elders Ilfra, D. Smith, Murray, Wall, Moon, Garner, Rich, Crane, Beckman, Hutchison, Stallings, Hoskin, Day, Jacobson, Redford, Williams; Seated: Sisters Orme, Miller, President, Sister Evanson, Eastmans.

Albany South Zone: Top: Elders Hickman, Kunz, Sandoval, Joseph Hall, Hartley, McCarty, Teare; Middle: Elders D. Smith, Cottam, Gawdun, Shelman, Lokhorst, Godfrey, Johanson, Nelson, Murray; Seated: Elders Wood, Morgan, President, Sisters Evanson, VanPatten and Moyes.

Albany North: Top: Elders Ramsten, Genck, J. Wayman, Carlson, J. Nielson, Rice, Diaz; Middle: Elders D. Smith, Silva, Cadman, J. Clark, Sisters Craw, Green, Redman, Elders Dilts, Parker, Murray; Seated: Elders Wood, Morgan, President, Sisters Evanson and Chatterley and Elder Chatterley.

Douglas Zone: Top: Elders Levesque, White, Hale, Morgan, Kimbal, Holyoak, Barnes, Stoddard; Middle Elders: Elders D. Smith, C. Clark, Robertson, Schaat, Park, Summerhays, Christiansen, Faux, Wood, Gropper, Murray; Sisters in the middle: Sisters Jenson and Stokes; Seated Elder and Sister Barlow; Sister and President Evanson, President and Sister Fussell (Douglas Stake President and wife). For some reason this photo is real grainy...sorry about that.

You may have noticed a few faces in every picture...Elders Morgan and Wood are the assistants and train at each Zone Conference; Elders D. Smith and Murray also travel to each zone and inspect the cars during the Zone Conference...that's why Elder Smith's jacket and pants don't match in one of the pictures. They don't like to wear their good suits when they're checking fluids, etc.