Walking on Sunshine!

Hola Familia!

 

Santiago me encanta su correo electronico en espanol! Tienes mucho talento!

 

This week started off with my companion doing a burning ritual where he put all his worries on little pieces of paper and then he burned them all. It was very interesting but whatever works for all of you to start fresh in the mind DO IT! The atonement is so powerful and it is all about change.

 

Mom the boys pictures from school make me happy thanks for sending those and yes I got the bike lights so thanks a lot!

 

We left phone in the car of a member this last week and we were lost in a world of hurt. Thanksgiving we moved Presidente bogardus all day to his new house and then went over to Chewies house for the a chicken rice and beans classical mexican dinner. It was still delicious and I really enjoyed my day of thanksgiving! Ines y Juan fed us pumpkin with cone sugar that was interesting and then we figured out what we ate at another members house was actually the stomache lining of a pig and they call it Menudo or innards. I am glad I finally figured out what it was.

 

Missionary dreams are interesting too! I feel like I never stop working! I am knocking doors all night!

 

I read the story of Shule this week in the book of mormon and I remember making that video! You should do another one for sure!

 

I am walking on sushine because I have been born of goodly parents who love the lord and they love me. I love you so much mom and dad thanks for raising me and teaching me everything I know! I am out of time but I just really want you to konw that I appreciate all you have done and are still doing for our family!

Elder Foster Comes to Town!

Hola Familia! Esta semana fue imponente!!

Elder Foster of the Seventy came to tour the mission and give us the vision! After as I was shaking his hand I asked if he knew BOYD HENDERSON. Well, his face lit up and he said of course I know boyd. BOYD is one of my Heros! So he told me about how he served with grandpa and how he was such an examplar. He put his hands on my shoulders and said "You are a Henderson".  I told him that gandpa was one of my heros as well! So tell grandpa that i love him lots and so does elder foster!

Our investigator is back on date for this Sunday! She has been sick lately but she has been keeping her commitments and is doing well. She has a pretty strong testimony of the word of God. So we planned to teach the law of the tithing this last lesson.

We got in and sat down and she starts telling us about how she only makes 30 dollars a week and that she has no money and that she cannot afford to buy much other  than food. Well, after this great introduction we presented the law of the tithe. I didnt know how it was going to go down. In the end though she just said "Of course I need to pay my tithing". She has such great faith and with that faith there is nothing that would stop her from keeping the lords commandments. She was prepared by the lord for us to come find and teach her. The other elders have a couple of people on date for next week as well and so we are going to have 3 new members of the branch this next week!

So the thing that I learned this week was to stay calm and have paciencia. missionary work is frustrating at times because people do not follow through with anything. I just have to remember that I am not perfect and so I can expect them to be either. Patience in missionary work is soo important because we want to be truly converting the people we teach as well!  

So challenge for you all this week at church. During sacrament pick somewhere new to sit so that you can get to know someone else. Yes it might go against the assigned seats but I learned during stake conference this week that meeting new people is missionary work and that we always need to be in the friend making mode!!! FELLOWSHIP LIKE CRAZY!

Last note... pray harder for the investigators than for the missionaries. I could use a blessing or two but they are the ones that we are here for so pray for them! Thanks for all the prayers it is powerful to think of all those who pray for me and gregg. The first presidency of the church and the 12 pray in the temple every thursday morning for the missionaries... powerful right! And elder Ballards plea to get another family to church with us before Christmas is still on. Keep inviting your friends!

Elder STEVEN BOSWELL finally saw the man!

Love you all lots and keep the faith y continua a seguir adelante con confianza!

Elder Allen

It is a NUTRIA! COOL CREATURE!

Living in the Gray

Elder Keller at the ducks stadium! AUTZEN!

Hello everybody! Bienvenida a Provo Amber! 

 This week was the most packed week in my planner! However, we were not able to find a lot of people home at their appointed time. Now that I look back, we did find and teach new people because our original plans fell through. The lord works in mysterious ways and recognizing his hand in all things is the key. We are seeing good things when we open up our spiritual eyes! 

This week we met a lot of people that think they are wise and learned but they hearken not unto the counsel of God! The one was a former member and thinks that mormons just exist so that they have a place to belong. He doesnt believe in God and he was telling us all this church history that who knows where it came from. He said that the world is not black and white and that we just need to accept every kind of person and their choices. We asked about how he felt about life after death. He said he was fine being a part of the the nothingness and darkness of the universe. Well let me tell you. There is no shady area you cannot live in the gray. The scriptures say that you cannot serve two masters you will either hate the one and love the other and that you cannot serve god and satan! We need to choose whose side we are on! I AM ON THE LORDS SIDE BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY INTELLIGENT THING TO DO! It was sad to see how they had placed a pavilion over themselves and hid themselves from God. I know that we we were meant to speak with them and give them our simple testimonies of restored gospel and that god lives. Funny thing is though we asked if we could leave the one man with a prayer and he said "Oh I actually said a prayer this morning so sure we can pray." We asked him who he prayed to.... He couldnt answer and I was just about to bust laughing sooo hard!!! Confounding the "wise" since 1995! ~ Elder Allen. The gospel is simple dont complicate it!

Yes my new Companion is great! He is such a happy dude and we are going to have some amazing times together. 

 

Elder Fowler, my new comp

This man pulled over while he was driving and yelled at us "There is no God! Put the book down and Cope!" I said to him "There is a God, and you still have hope!" : ) We get alot of crazies like that but I love it cause it makes the day more interesting. 

MOM do you have a family search . org account??? We have a member here that has some work that needs to be done for his ancestors but he cant go to the temple very often and he wants it done. So if have an account I can share his names with youguys and you can print off the papers and go do the work for them! OH and the Plan of Salv. setup really is a $$$ mom! Serious. I have laid it out on several occasions already and they focus right in on it so thanks! 

We had an investigator follow us to church and we were 1 block away and his car breaks in the middle of the road. EVERY WEEK something comes up and the devil doesnt want him there!  We are going to beat satan though this next week will be it. 

Last thought D&C 88 : 81 it is our duty to warn others because we have been warned. We have the gospel you guys! Dont forget it ever! It is the greatest thing that we can share as well. So dont forget to take Elder Ballards promise and get another Family to church before Christmas. Necesitamos amonestarles y ayudarles!

Hasta la proxima semana! 

-ELDER ALLEN

YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED!?!?!?!?!

Hola Familia! Como estan?!

 

So I have heard a ton of this on my mission so far.... "No estoy interesado" and from the gringos "Im not interested".... I usually respond with my testimony of the gospel but what I really ought to say is "WHAT, YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR SALVATION?!?!" 

 

Wow transfers are crazy! I stayed in the same area while Elder Keller went to Klamath Falls to be the ZL over all the spanish elders in the mission. I am going to miss him for a lot of reasons for one he was in this area for over 6 months and knew where everything is. Now here I am struggling to find the library as I try to take over this area! I am just going to miss keller for a lot of reasons. Sports was definitly something we agreed on.

 

 I just met my new companion this morning, Elder Fowler from Bountiful UT, and we are going to work harder than we have ever done before. He is definitly different from the last one but different is good! He was in the band at bountiful high and he actually knows elder Boswell because he came from his area in Corvallis. I hoped to see steven today at transfer spot but he wasnt there. 

 

 This last week was a bit hectic with appointments falling through all the time and our bike tires popping every other day but we had lots of miracles still. We finally managed to get Angel to come to church Paloma went to the temple with the ward on saturday! The work is still moving along we just need to push harder everyday. So I took my bike into a shop because the tires on that bike were weird and I didnt have time to get it done. The guy was really nice and charged me like 10 bucks for a new tire, installation, and a patch job on the other tire! We had some nice hail and rain storms this week as well!

 

We had one experience this week with prayer that was a miracle but turned out kinda funny! We prayed to find a family of 6 during planning and morning study and then we went out to search for them. Guess what.... The first latino we run into named Elia has 4 kids and there was our family of 6! However, they were not as interested as I would have hoped they would be. Next time our prayers and going to be more specific and to the point and we are going to find that prepared family of 6! I love getting to know new people and finding new friends through the gospel it just cant get old! I just hope to be a more powerful teacher so that those I talk to dont have the OPTION to accept the gospel!

 

So we toured Autzen stadium this last Pday and that was pretty legit. The stadium was pretty small compared to Lavell Edward but they have a nice facility and they are going to win the national championship so all is well in Oregon.

 

We had this conference call as KEller was district leader on tuesday mornings and it was just the best advice I have for you for this week. Elder oneil got on the call and started singing "Put a smile on your face, make the world a better place!" I just couldnt stop laughing! Oneil is a big lovable guy and just makes you smile. EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY! We just need to make it a good day and smile all the time. No olviden su sonrisa cada dia Santiago, Lucas, Hiram!

 

Spencer I havent read your email yet but I am asuming all went well with the zip line? What is the next sport up? Basketball? You already always have a smile so try putting smiles on other peoples faces everyday now! Any new improvements on Nathans place? How is liberty?

 

So I got in the mission office and appearantly my friend from High school Philip Ng was serving in our mission as a chinese elder waiting for his visa to taiwan for a few weeks! I just wish I could have seen him!

 

Did carter get a deer? Did the letter with the tag in it from mexico show in the mail?

 

I had an amazing lesson with our less active ward mission leader this week. He is soo funny! He tells us so many good stories. This week though when we visited him he gave us hot chocolate and we sat by his fire warming up sipping hot chocolate. It was the closest to camping I will be in a while. He then came to church this week!!! I love seeing people at church.

 

Another thing that I really recoginzed this week was the tender mercies that God shows me everyday. Proverbs 3 : 5-6 is a good verse that goes along with this. We need to recognize the lords hand in everything that we experience for it is him who has given it to us. For example after popping a tire, walking miles, the next day while we went out for a run there were 4 blacktail deer outside our appartment and it just made me so happy and I realized that god is aware of me and he loves me enough to put little experiences in our day to lighten the load.

 

Well I love you all lots and keep praying for Paloma and Chewie and Stephanie. They need it.  You get to see Amber this week? I am so jelous! give her a big hug from me and dont let here get married without my approval!

 

-Elder Allen

 

Fortaleca

Hola Familia!

 

So I remember doing all those fundraisers for coach cardoso and when I would go door to door some people would say.... "No hablo engleis"  and I would just say adios! Not anymore! That is one of my favorite things to hear now! I dont want anyone to speak english!! Cool thing is that James, luke and hyrum will be able to sell their stuff in spanish no problem as well now that they are learning spanish too!

 

Remember the first miracle that I talked to you all about? Paloma, the lady on my first day that we felt impressed to reverse and go see if she spoke spanish, is getting baptised this next week! She is sooooo PREPARED! Thanks for all the prayers for the people that are living here. I need the blessings from your prayers but the people in the field need them more and they need to be ready to listen and accept. Paloma is amazing.... like we taught her the word of wisdom last time and she immediately after said.... I drink tea and coffee but not anymore! She just accepted it like it was nothing! We were so stoked! (seeing sisters get stoked is a different matter, squeeling and such) She has come to church every sunday and just loves everything.

 

I memorized a scripture that Amber said she memorized while i was in the mtc. It is a short one but it is just amazing! Todo lo puedo en cristo que me fortalece! Phil. 4 : 13 I just love it because there is so much strength that can be found in the savior! Our strength comes from the lord! Everyday there is adversity and temptation but Christ is the Rock and never moves and no matter how the wind beats upon us as long as we hold on to the rock we cannot be carried away captive! I love wearing the missionary nametag! Everymorning I just take joy in putting it on and looking at the two names, ALLEN and JESUS CHRIST. Both names mean a lot to me! One helps me remember my family and how I need to live and work in a manner that will bring "honor to the family" : ) ! The other is Christs name which makes it so my family will be together forever and also the artist of our lasting happiness. Both names just give me that strength every day and I know that it can give each and every person that same strength as long as they ACT. Christ has said that we need to COME unto him. He is not going to come to us we have to come unto him and abandon our pride. He is standing at the door and we just have to knock. It always begins with action! That also reminded me of Grandma Allens story at the Allen reunion about prayer that she just prayed for the strength to bike against the wind, although she wanted the wind to change directions! Always ask for strength to overcome!

 

So there goes another month of my mission and I just feel it is going to fast! I will see this week where I will go next transfer. I want to stay! I could honestly stay here my whole mission and still have a ton of work to do. there is too much to do to just leave already so I hope I get to stay. Some of our investigators have been being ridiculous this week! They dont answer and they always find last minute excusses to not come to church. I was tired.... my car broke AGAIN.... My brothers uncles monkey on a fence needed my help to get down.... EXCUSES STINK!

 

The weather here has been beautiful and quite sunny really! We had some dense fog too so that was fun.

 

There is another scripture that we have been sharing with all our less actives in Alma 5 : 26-27 and it is like a BIG wake up call. Can you feel that spirit NOW? We actually got 3 families to come that I have not seen at church the 5 weeks I have been here so that was nice to see them there. We have been helping a man  to stop smoking and using tobacco and he is doing really well we figured the math and he spends just thousands of dollars a month on that stuff! He is doing well though and came to church with his wife and son as well.

-Love you all

ELder Allen

Chewie all in White!

DEAR FAMILY!

 

Another fruitfull week in the mission! We were a bit dissappointed with the number of investigators that were in attendance at church this sunday but we had a baptism after which just fires you up again!

 

This week CHEWIE got baptized and set an amazing example for his family! Presidente Bogardus performed the ordinance and Elder Keller and I gave a lesson during the program. Hermana Bogardus sang and played the piano at the same time and it was amazing! The spirit was there the whole time and I know he felt it. He is always telling us how "HIS" holy ghost keeps talking to him. He said afterwards that he just felt so light! He has come such a long way. He used to be into drugs and all this crazy stuff but know here he is being BAPTIZED! He has such a strong testimony and I am edified when I teach him everytime. Chewie is amazing and so is his family. Now we are working on his wife Stephanie who is a bit more stubborn but someday they are all going to be in that temple in Portland!

 

Before the baptism we had a fiesta for the baptism and Chewie didnt show up!!! I was so nervous that he was just not going to show or something. Turns out Stephanie was sick because she is pregnant with her third child. We had the fiesta without him and then just waited and waited. He showed up 15 min before the baptism and totally missed his own fiesta. Next step for him is the priesthood and the temple!

 

Mom and Dad thank you soooo much for raising me the way you did! I meet so many people here that just dont know what it is like to have a real functioning family. They feel lost in life and they just dont know that this is what they need. Thanks for teaching me how to be clean and not afraid to get dirty and all the little things as well.  

 

Thanks for the Scripture mastery cards too they are great and I love seeing the new ones that are out. One thing that I like about this companionship thing is that we have comp inventory and we can bring up things that are preventing us from bonding better. It works well and I was wondering if implimenting it in the family would work at all.... Instead of calling people out on something during the day then try just sitting down with them at a specific time and humbly talk about how to improve. Have you all seen the family mission plan video online? Look it up and make a plan!

 

One of our investigators asked if there was a smoking room in the temple! Funny people we get to teach here 

 

Cool story.... so we see some latinos balling it up so we decide to turn it into a teaching opportunity. We made the bet that if we won we got to teach them a lesson from the book of mormon and if not we had to rake all their leaves. So Elder Keller and I balled them up and got a lesson out of it! THAT IS A FUN WAY TO GET LESSONS! It is weird how the latinos here dont dig soccer very much. They love football basketball and track! I have met a few soccer players though which is always fun. Another cool story is that one of our investigators, Angel had a dream like Lehi!!! He said that he dreamed that he was being baptised and that Elder Allen and Elder Keller were right there beside him! I was like BOO YA! GETTING DUNKED! I love the guy but I think he is a bit nervous to come to church. So pray for Angel!

 

The plants that we have on the fence on our property are everywhere here and the just grow like crazy. Maybe the ones at home just need more agua?!! It kills me to see these Blackberry bushes here just filled with unpicked dried up berries! If I would have been just a month earlier I could have eaten them all!

 

We are working hard on getting less actives back to church. The majority of the less actives do not attend because of hard feelings against other members of the branch. I am trying hard to find a cure to this problem and hope that our branch can have the numbers in attendance that it should. Any ideas would be appreciated! 

 

LOVE YOU ALL LOTS!

 

TILL NEXT WEEK

 

-ELDER ALLEN

BAPTISM EVERYWHERE!

AMBER I AM SO HAPPY FOR ANNA!! That just made me smile so much that whole experience that you shared. We are teaching a guy from Mexico, we call him Chewie, his nickname because his real name is just to hard for all the Americans to say! So funny. So he has been taught everything now and we are preparing for his baptism this Sunday. He is so solid and he is so ready. I love him and his family so much and it would be the coolest thing if they all could get baptised. His wife Stephanie is in the process of being taught but she is pregnant with her third child so it is often hard to teach her. Everytime we go over they feed us till we die!!! Last time we had Lengua. Chewie works at a cow butchering place and brings home the Lengua or cow tounge and we had some delicious cow tounge tacos! She is awesome and I love her kids as well. Chewie has even been asking us for extra pamplets because he has already been talking to his fellow employees about the church and how awesome it is. He is already a missionary!!!  Sad thing is that he called his mother in Mexico to tell her about his decision and she disapproves but he is going to do it anyway.

 

Funny story, I was just getting done emailing and this guy says ELDER! He is this really hairy hippie dude and comes over and shakes my hand and his hand is all wet and nasty and he says "My names mark and I am a Witch" He rolls up his sleeve to reveal a tatoo that marks his witchiness and i just said " Thats great good to meet you Mark" I didnt know how to respond to this witch... I wanted to ask him if he was a wizard but he vanished to quickly. Another lady rode by us yelling "Watch out! Brain washed dangerous Cultists!" Funny people here!

 Church was good we had like 5 investigators there which was awesome and there was like 75 people in attendance. We need more though for sure. love you all.

 

-Elder allen

The Oregon Drizzle

 Monday October 7, 2013

 

Hola Familia! I love you guys so much!

 

I got to watch all of conference and I  CANNOT GET ENOUGH!! Have to wait 6 months for the next one but it is something to really look forward to! How did you guys like it?

 

So this week we got a new car. Our "OLD" car had 25 thousand miles and was losing the shine i guess.... Because we drive everywhere in what is called the "Oregon Drizzle"! Our spanish area is huge so we need to cover a lot of ground without getting drenched so we are in a car a lot more than i would like to be. So it is the newest car I have ever been in! we got the all new chevy cruze 2014 with only 9 miles on it! still had the tags on it and everything! the church is crazy to hand that 20,000 dollar piece of merchandise to us!

 

The second week was just as good as the first. It is amazing as an ambassador of the Lord how people just open up to you and plead your help and guidence. We had two crazy amazing experiences this week where we were guided to certain people. One lady we met just outside a bus stop and as we started to talk she just told us everything, like everything. She is in a really tough situation and she told us how she had been drinking for the first time and years because of the struggles she is having and that she is terminally ill and how she doesnt want to leave her son now because he is so far away from choosing the correct things in life. Through her tears, She told us how last time she was in a crisis like this that the two mormon missionaries showed up as well, just walking down the street like we were! God knows his children and he sends us, his ambassadors to help them find the path and give them comfort. I know that we are only a tool in his hands to accomplish this work. So i asked if we could come in and share a short message with her. We shared Helaman 5:12 and I know that she felt the spirit. We have so much strength in the Christ! Sad thing is though all the people we contact that are white we have to turn them over to the white missionaries! (we are the brown ones)! I want to teach her again though!

 

Another lady came up to us and said that she had a house that was filled with bad spirits and is under the influence of the devil. she asked us to come bless her home and cast out the spirits! So we get into her house and like always Elder Keller turns to me to give me the chance to do everything which I am very greatful for because I have grown a lot and it is probably what I am going to do with my trainees in the future. That was an interesting experience but I love the knowledge that we have in regards to this that we can call on the powers of heaven for ourselves. She verywell  could have blessed her home as well. She is entitled as are we all to the lords help wherever we are.

 

This man came up to us during General Conference and said "Get with the program. if it aint fun then you aint doing it right and it aint worth doing" Soo true! Everything can be done in a way to foster the spirit of God and help us find joy in what we are doing. 

 

Conference was amazing and we got some of our investigators to attend which was a blessing, chewie and his wife stephanie and lots of kids and relatives.  You can put your money on the prophets to deliver inspired and persuasive messages, and that is whay they did. I love those men so much and I admire their spiritual tenacity and I hope to be able to be more bold and filled with love all at the same time. During Elder Hollands talk I thought about RACHEL! She is going to be such a perfect spirit and she is just trapped right now in this body but she will be resurrected in all glory. I cant believe I forget that so often when I am around her. Forgive me Rachel! I LOVE YOU! gotta go!

love

Elder Allen

And so it begins! OEM in the RAIN!

My flight on a small plane that was awesome

and yeah it rains a lot at my appartment

 

I have only 20 more minutes!!!! 1 hr to email and read everything is soooo tough!

 

So first miracle! My companion is Elder Keller from Arizona and he is a probably, from what i have seen the hardest working one out there in our mission.

 

my first companion- Elder Keller

 

 

 He is now district leader so I get to call lots of people and write down the numbers and it is just good stuff. K since Elder Perrine and I arrived it has rained and rained and rained! So much rain and it never stops! I love it though it is so pretty and the leaves are starting to turn! There are oregon duck fans EVERYWHERE! Perrine got assigned down in Klamath and I am right in Eugene! We have a car that we take everywhere and I spend a good chunk of the day driving so I feel like I am not doing Real missionary work. I guess it is just different than other missions. We teach all the spanish people so we have to drive accross town for different appointments and we are not really supposed to just talk to the english people. So we will see how it goes. It was sad to see my comp of the last 6 weeks go. I love that guy!

 

Second miracle happened the first day.  Amazing experience, so I was going tracting with my new Companion, who is boss because he just abandons me on the door step so that I can grow outside my comfort zone! Anyway and we rode our bikes right past a lady sitting on her porch. A bit further down the street we looked at eachother and felt impressed to return to talk to that lady! So we did and turned around and we met Paloma! She is a pretty old lady who just barely moved from Peru like a week ago and she could not speak a word of english! That is why we have spanish elders in Eugene OR! It was great to talk to her she was talking to us about how much darkness there is in the world right now and that people are just not following the word of god anymore. So I got to place my first BOM in the mission field! It was a great first day experience and just got me pumped for the mission.

 

I finally have met a ton of our investigators and I love them already. The food that we have eaten so far is awesome stuff. That latin food in america is better than anything I had in the comedor in Mexico! So we run every morning and it is pretty chily. So about mail send it to the mission office. I forgot the address but you have it right? Yeah just send it there and they forward it to me.

 

I met Elias who is just the funniest guy and thinks that zombies are real and we got to teach him about the ressurection. It turned out to be a funny lesson because of the zombie factor... Focus people!!!

 

So what i figured is that missionaries need members to be present at their lessons and WE need to be there to help them or else we cannot teach! So be there for them! So many people we cannot teach because we need another male to enter the home. So support the localsmissionaries and see if you can get in on some of their lessons.

 

Our branch is mini! We had maybe 40 people at church and It felt so empty in this big chapel. the songs were weak but the testimony s of the people were so strong and I cannot wait to get involved and make more of a difference.

 

One of our investigators was asking us about our mission life and asked when we would be able to use electricity again! haha soo funny. We teach lots of lessons in english as well and it is hard to transition. I will start switching back adn forth and it is noo good! Oh bible bashing is of the devil but it is lots of fun I want to tell youmore about that one later but gotta go.

 

someone send me scrip mastery list please?!! thanks

 

Love ya lots

 

-Elder Allen

Welcome to OEM!

We are so happy to have your missionary here with us in the Oregon Eugene Mission.  We had great fun getting to know them  yesterday.  They are  going to be  awesome missionaries !

 The first  few weeks of training will be some of the greatest weeks of their mission!

President Young is a wonderfully spiritual and loving mission president.  He takes great care in watching over his missionaries so please know that your missionary is in very good hands!

Thanks for sending them our way!

Goodbye CCM!

Presidente Juarez and my comps

So In field orientation was last Friday and it was a lot of info all in one day. I shared Lukes miracle story with all the missionaries and I am sooo grateful for miracles. It really was frustrating me because none of the missionaries were participating and I felt like it was a private class with the teachers and I. 

 

Our last day of class was very sad. I love our teachers so much and I am going to miss them. To bad I cant take them as pocket tutors. On our last day we had a vocab field trip with hermano Valdez and he taught us words and we taught him English words. Then we taught our investagator Pamela for the last time. We got her story from our teacher and I cant wait to find and convert Pamela´s in Orgeon. 

 

Hermana HAWS

 

 

 

 

 

HRMNO VALDEZ

 

We read those two talks I sent to you all this week. They were very inspiring and I am excited to apply the new knowledge that I have. And now I am going to be the fourth consecrated missionary! They are great talks not only for a missionary but for life in general, although they are directly applicable to the missionary. They are long but worth the read so just thought I would send them. Print em and read them whenever you have time.  We learned from some bad examples this week of the importance of obedience. I just feel bad for these elders that are not getting the vision. Remember that obedience is the first law of heaven. If we obey god has promised to bless us and God does not break promises.

 

Sunday was awesome! I got to play the opening and closing songs, our district sang ¨ill go where you want me to go for a special musical number, and our whole zone wore white ties, under the permission of presidente Alvarado of course. Dont think that will fly in the states... haha! It was a great day though.

 

 

Goodbyes to the district

 

 

 That night we said goodbye to elder chidester and pearson who had to wait 10 hours in Columbia for a layover. I will miss my district they are so great! That is when I figured out BYU lost as well. One of the polynesian elders who signed for UTAH said that BYU lost. Sad news huh! 

 

This morning Elder Kupferer left and we had I nice goodbye at 2 in the morning. then at 6 we went running with Elder Johnson from st. George around the track. I love running! I ran bare foot because my shoes were being washed so I could pack them away. It reminded me of running with Amber bare foot up in Orem. Good times in the CCM and I will miss this training center a lot. 

¨

I love the Book of Mormon you guys. It is just the best book out there! I could read it over and over and that is what I am going to do. I am in Helaman right now and Nephi and Lehi dont get the pat on the back they should. They converted 8000 blood thirsty lamanites, really quickly tooo! That might just top Ammon´s missionary success story! Immediatly after he converts them all the lamanites begin to be more righteous than the nephites. Well read some BOM and you will be uplifted and edified. Set aside some TIME cause that is really what you need to get a good lesson to help you in your life through this book.

 

Now it is just Elder Perrine and I. We are going to contact and convert loads of people at the airport tomorrow! 

 

 

 

Storm rolling in

 

 

Love ya all and keep the faith,

 

Elder Allen

 

 

 

 

 

¡VIVA MEXICO!

Sept. 19, 2013 Hello, this is Nathans  mother. I forgot to post his email last week, so keep reading  past this post and you can read another week!

Hello Family!

 

INSIDE Fireworks!!! not very safe but okay! I liked them

Another week gone and I am about to get sent into the field! We keep losing districts and we are the ones about to leave now. So the weekend was MEXICO INDEPENDANCE! Saturday some LDS latino dance group put the fiesta on! We had tons of fun with the music and dancing and the culture was awesome. It was fun to watch the Mexican group of people just go insane with the fiesta. they showed an awesome video that was about the Mexico culture. We sang the Mexico National Anthem with the hand over the chest and the color gaurd! I FELT SO MEXICAN! We really have no culture in america which is lame. So we need to have some culture in our family and have some amazing traditions, OK! 

 

District with the stars of the night

 

 

 

Espana and I. Forgot to take off my other tag.....

Elder Cordova and I,  I played cordova in soccer he was on the Rangers team.

My comps and I with a mirror pic

 

 

Sunday I got to play the opening hymn and pass the sacrament! The meeting was amazing every talk. One of my favorite parts was a scripture that was read. I have heard it before, in fact I read it in my personal study just a few days ago, but it just struck another  string in my mind and made me really contemplate. It was ALMA 26: 27 ¡Paciencia! Something our family, specifically me, lacks. I thought of all the times I have flipped out over stupid things.... Forgetting to charge the boat, forgetting the key, forgetting the plug to the boat, losing a ping pong game and kickin the door in, trying to find a lost tube plug, the boat randomly stopping and not starting again, not having enough food to eat from wendys, the list can go on forever! ; My foot breaking, going to be late to an event, rachel drawing all over something, rachel pooping on a rock, James cutting two bottles of pickles, not being able to find the soccer game location, who took something.....

 

this got me thinking about Job, a man who was perfect in the sight of the Lord and in the faith. Satan comes to God and says that Job would fall away if God took everthing from him. So he does just that. Job loses EVERYTHING! We have nothing to complain about! He lost it all and yet stayed faithful and praised gods name.  In the end has more than before! He had such patience. In Mosiah the people who followed Alma and were baptised are brought into bondage. They were not bad people, but bad things happen to great people! This was done so God could "try their patience". Job 20:5 says that the wicked will prosper for a moment. That moment may be this whole life, but how NOT great will be their joy in the life to come!  I like how Shon H. puts it "Wherever you are... there you are!" And "When something goes wrong just laugh at it" :) I know that with that faith and patience all will turn out fine! After every time I freaked out, I felt stupid after because everything always worked out! Trust in God and it WILL ALWAYS work out..... I got the grades i wanted, the boat started, we found the plug, I can run again, its rachel and she will be amazing in the next life, It all works out. On top of that Christ suffered everthing that we go through so through him all becomes possible.

 

So dad guess who was the substitute teacher for my district the other day!? Sonya Valdez, I was introducing myself to her and said I was from provo. She said she was too and I told her we lived at the ropes course. She flipped out and said that my dad was an angel. LAter she explainedShe said that she had a sudden financial issue and wouldnt be able to afford her mission. She met with the bishop and they knelt and prayed together that someway someone would step in and help her. Not two days later. Dad ( I think I was actually hometeaching with you) was talking with the latinos and asked if we could help someone with the mission. It was this hermana  that you helped dad! She said that the mission meant the world to her and she was really emotional. She was a great teacher for our district tooo! Miracles do happen, prayers are answered, we just need to be living righteously enough to receive and act on promptings.

 

Sunday night was the EL GRITO! We all gathered at 11 pm for the grito. ¡VIVA MEXICO!, ¡VIVA HILDALGO!, ...... I felt like I was going to have to give up my American citizenship! After the grito we went home at about 11:30 and were told to hurry because the mexicanos get out the pistoles and shoot in the air and we dont wanna get shot! It really did feel like a war zone on the way back!

 

Two elders from our district left to CHILE today! It is about to get REAL!

Love ya all lots   stay tight like a dish and fight the good fight.

 

-Elder Allen

 

Everything is bigger in Utah!

Sorry folks, I - Nathans mother, forgot to post his email last week. So you get 2 in 1 today! Enjoy!

 

 

 Sept. 12, 2013

 

So because BYU beat the Texas Longhorns Texas is looking pretty small right now. That is soo awesome that we won. Elder Mangum actually pulled me to the side on sunday and I thought maybe I was going to have to give a talk because he is the zone leader,but instead he just told me that BYU beat Texas, dont know how he knew but that made my sunday even better than it already was! And appearantly he and Curt Henderson are like best buds on that football team.

 

My lesson in priesthood went really well I used the talk that you sent me mom by Boyd K. Packer. THAT WAS RIGHT ON THE DOT!! Thanks soo much you are the best and I just know I can always count on you!

 

So there is a worker here named Melchezidek and he makes these scripture cases out of leather. He burns the leather by hand and puts your scripture, mission, your name, and a really detailed picture of what ever you want. His examples looked sooo cool so i just couldnt pass it up.

 

Elder Anderson and Hermana McCormic grew up together and they said they have acutally ridden their horses through our property and eaten Asperagus and stuff. Mason Bailey emailed me and scott has been emailing too. It is crazy scott already has pics with his investigators that are getting baptised.

 

This week was amazing here at the MTC. I feel my spanish improving and my teaching too. The spirit taught a bunch of powerful lessons to our investigators this week and brought them to tears even. IT FELT SO GREAT TO BE THE ONE RADIATING THE SPIRIT! As I bore testimony in my broken spanish I just wanted the investigator to know what I know sooo bad. We taught about prayer and she did not want to pray because of all the things she had done in the past. When we finally were able to get her to pray the spirit was so strong and i just love getting on a spiritual high like that! Latter that night we had a devotional by President Pratt and he told us that we need to have a good attitude about everything. He said he love driving in Mexico because the adreneline really starts pumping and it is just not the same experience in Salt Lake. It was really funny but soo true. Dont complain about you circumpstance but be content with what you have!

 

Our District Leader Elder Skelton came down with laryngitis and has to be quarantined for like two weeks!!!! I feel so bad for him because of the stuff he is missing out on. OH! Someone straight up stole my crayons from our classroom over night. So appearantly all the guys that clean peoples casas and clases are not mormon and as the head boss told us.... it is their culture to take things..... So yeah i had to buy a new pack but I am just happy it wasnt my nice new shoes like the other elder in my district or a brand new computer which appearantly got stolen from a teacher.

 

and the green birds here are acutally parrots which is really cool.

 

I did not measure my self on the door way before i left by spencers room!!!! HOW AM I GOING TO KNOW IF I GREW ON MY MISSION??

 

VIVE MEXICO!!  THEIR INDEPENDANCE DAY IS THIS SUNDAY THE COUNTRY IS GOING TO BE CRAZY! I am excited. we have a little CCM celebration too and we had a practice singing the Mexico national anthem that was a cool experience.

The Leones are the mascot for the school. Let me tell you a lot of tears were shed when they turned this school into a CCM. IT was the life of the LDS education in Mexico. Turning it into A CCM was a fullfillment of a prophecy though which is awesome.

The water ran brown for a while and I accidentally brushed my teeth with it.... HOPE I DONT GET SICK!!!

 

 

The food has gotten much better here with nuttela and some beans and some good stuff so life is good.

 

It rained even more this week but we have gone two days without rain! I feel like it is a drought. One of the ELders in my district said that there was a tornado in PG and that it rained so much in PRovo that people were canoeing in the Univ. MAll pariking lot!?

Love you guys a ton and remember the church is true so just hold strong to the rod!

 

AMBER I cant believe how long it is going to be till I see you again! but it is for the best of reasons. Love you all,

-Elder Allen

Relampago everywhere!

Hello family! Another week has passed and here I am again! It is really going by soo fast. This week i swear we have already received like 10 inches of rain at least and there has been some awesome lightning storms and we are getting swamped! The thunder is different here too. It is like a dry crack and doesnt rumble like it does in utah. I love it though.

 

So I hurt my foot again playing soccer against some natives and it was really killing me. It is feeling better now and i just need to take it easy eh! We went to the temple again today and it was even better than last time! I actually understood a bunch of the spanish and I saw some awesome parts of Mexico! This one bus was just going along down the road and these little kids run it down and just jump on in the middle of this busy road! it was sketchy then they are just hanging on off the door. There are some cool Green birds here that I want to catch they look like parrots or something. My comps and I were contacting, our teacher outside, she was walking away and so we start chasing after her. All the sudden the heavens open up and just start dumping buckets of water on our heads. so we are runny for shelter but Perrine was introducing us to our contact on the run it was the funniest thing ever! I hope I get to teach someone again while they are on the run it makes missionary work even more exciting.

 

Congrats Braiden on the mission call! you are going to tear it up in Nebraska!

 

I cannot believe BYU lost their season opener!!! How embarrassing. It was prob. because i was not watching though. So in my casa, I am on the top bunk just like at home and I have been able to watch the rain at night which is really cool!

Mom I just got you package so thanks very much I have not opened it yet I am too busy right now but thanks for the stuff that will be in the package and I will be more greatful next week.

 

 

We got to listen to a talk by Ezra taft Benson this week called beware of pride. It was sooo good! I feel like that is the problem with me and with just about eveyone. It is the universal sin! He said Pride halts our progression in life. He said contention would not exist if pride were gone. Basically every problem come from pride. Even divorce and the BIG sins come as a result of Pride. Pride is the root of it all! So I have been researching pride this week and I am going to come off conquerer!

 

One of the devotionals I attended was on how to really convert. The essential component to missionay succes turned out to be the MEMBERS! There needs to be a member missionary connection that envelopes the work. This will multiply the results big time. So dad you should start that book of mormon placement challenge in the ward. Or even better spencer could start it. Ya know how we saw in Kents ward. ward memebers place two a week by volunteer. the speaker introduced this as the M&M work. WE all need to be in this with one heart, mind, and purpose.

 

OH! the other thing that really stood out to me this week was the first presidency preface to the himnos. It is awesome and you should read it at family home evening. Those hymns are soo cool! Memorize them, sing them, and love them,

 

 

There are a bunch of elders that I keep meeting that know people that i know it is such fun to make connections. Elder Williams is from Nephi´s ward in Plano. Elder Hink was great friends with Mason in Richfield. I played soccer agains Elder Cordova when he was with the Rangers,  and it has been lots of fun wrecking the soccer games here with him. There is an elder that is from Kirk Bagleys parents ward, forgot his name. A ton of elders going to Pocatello. And there are more just cant think of them right now. one of the elders here actually went to this school and played soccer for three years at this high school which was awesome that he was back as a missionary.

 

Sad news though. One of my  friends that was here went home this week. I was really really sad for him and for the people he could have taught. It also made me think of what I did wrong, how I could have been a better friend in  school or even while he was at the MTC. I really hope he comes back and make sure you all are great friends, you can influence those around you to serve missions and stay on them and change their lives.

 

I know that this is Gods work and I am soo happy to be a part of it. Pray for me to do well this sunday during my priesthood lesson I am going to need it. Preaching for 30 min in spanish could be a tad difficult.

 

Love you all lots,

 

Elder Allen

Estoy Aqui!!! I am here! Loving the CCM! Week 2

Distrito 10A!

Welcome to Mexico. slugbugs evereywhere!

We are protected by big walls with chain link plus barbed wire on top. Satan is not getting in here!

MTC CLASE all day everyday!

We went to the Temple today and it is HUGE and in the middle of Mexico city!

Our humble abode

Crazy thing is that there are palm trees and pine trees like right next to each other. I am really loving the weather down here too. Soaking it in!

Estoy Aqui!!! I am here!  August 13, 2013

So we had a crazy long day on the plane and in the airport. we ended up switching planes and going to California and I finally made it to the CCM/MTC! Had some costco pizza met some cool people and trying to start learning spanish.

 

So im safe and sound talk to ya on Monday!! Love ya lots

 

Elder Allen

 

 

Loving the CCM!     August 22, 2013

 

Today is my first PDay so I have a lot to write!

 

The weather here is amazing! It is crisp air and feels like it does in the fall in Utah. It is 70s durring the day and 50s at night  i thought it would be hot but no!

 

So ended up that my flight got messed up so they sent me to LA and then to Mexico and we were 6 hours late and got to the CCM\ MTC at about 11:30 at night! already breaking rules, i know, we arrived and got some cold costco pizza and then finally I got my nametag! I also got mi compañero Elder Perrine from Sacramento Cal. He is the only other elder that i have met that is going to Eugene. So I got all settled and we had a nice tour in  the morning but then a new missionary came into our district and said that we were to have a TRIO and that me and E Perrine had to move houses so we did and had to move all the way accross campus. So our new compañero is Elder Kupferer from Irvine Cal and he is going on his mission to Washington.

The majority of the missionaries here are going to south america, Chile, equador, paraguay, and all kinds of cool places. My district is awesome. We have a lot of fun together and maybe too much fun together.

 

We went to the Temple today and it is HUGE and in the middle of mexico city where everything is in shambles and then.... BOOM there it is! In the picture from front to back....

 

Every day we have to be at the clase at 7 in the morning and then we study till breakfast at 8. Breakfast is terrible! I was hoping for some delicous jams and jellies but we have had rock hard waffles for breakfast for the whole time we have been here and there is no syrup just chocolate syrup stuff. I think they are trying to cater to the americans but I am getting used to it. Then from there we go to learn spanish for about 3 hours with Hermano Valdez who has lived in Mexico all his life. He speaks all spanish and it is great. Then we have gym time for 1 hour then Lunch. Lunch is usually the best meal of the day. 

 

Next we have been teaching an investigator, Esmeralda. We have had 4 lessons with her already and they had to be between 20 and 35 minutes long and all in spanish. The first two lessons went decent but then we had a bad lesson that did not make sense and it was just bad. So we prayed and had read some Preach my gospel and decided we would just not plan the next lesson so meticulously but just teach by the spirit. Our last lesson yesterday went sooo well! I challenged Esme to be baptized at the end and she excepted. We were stoked afterwards even though it was not a real investigator. 

 

Elder Pearson came back from one lesson and said "Oh what a great lesson, she said she would read the book of mormon and we felt the spirit sooo strong! WAIT!!! I didnt give her a book of Mormon!" Yeah.... so when you invite someone to church like on the movie the best two years just remember to tell them where the church is.

 

Our branch President, presidente Alvorado, is awesome he is so genuinely Happy and loves everyone. He said two of his children died but I dont know how to talk to him about his family in spanish without making he relive the pain a hundred times so i can understand him so I wont ask. Our branch is pretty cool. So our first Sacrament meeting one of the Hrmnas was speaking about faith and we start to here Rachels favorite song, This girl is on fire, playing on just outside the CCM and it was sooo loud. Finally when we were all about to bust the girl speaking said "yes this girl is on fire" it was the funniest thing ever.  

 

 In my branch I have Elder Tanner Mangum. Recognize the name????!!! He is QB at BYU and will take Taysoms place when he gets back. He is big and I have been playing soccer against him. He played goalie and when I dont score on him then he picks up the ball and just throws it accross the gym into the other goal! it is insane. He is a really cool guy though.

 

So elders I have met so far that I knew previously

Alec Wooley, Brandon Smith, Elder Holt all of which I played soccer with, two for the Arizona trip.

Jordan Maw and Landon Snyder from Provo High. I also met Scott Adair and tyler something scotts friends from logan.

 

Hermanas

Warner, Giles, Louisa Orton from PHS, and hermana Morales from our Stake!

 

It so loud here at night. I swear people are getting shot ever minute! there are bangs and screams and barking dogs and all kinds of fun stuff. There is also a bunch of earthquakes here too. We already experienced one but nobody even knew it! it was just super small so it set off the alarms and we all evacuated just in case there were bigger ones to follow. That has happened twice now.

 

Today we went to the temple and it was hard to do it in Español for sure! I needed some major help but it was a great experience!

 

One of my favorite things to do here is to sing in español! The spirit comes so strong everytime. Sometimes it is funny to look at all these 18 year old boys and think that they are going to convert people, but then we sing a song and the spirit is there and then we teach amazing lessons in spanish and then I just know that it can and will happen. God knows what he is doing and his purposes cannot be frustrated! The book of mormon will answer all the questions you have if you read it and if you read it everyday you will not fall away from the church ever! God lives and I cant wait to bring the gospel to others and learn spanish at the same time. Love you all lots,

 

Elder Allen

 

 

Week 2  August 29, 2013

 

This week was AWESOME! I just love being a missionary. It is great to have all these people around you that are really so different but when it comes to the gospel we can be united and have the same purpose and just have such good experiences together. This week went by sooo quickly and I cannot believe it is Thursday and Pday again. Our new investigators names are Alejandro and Pamela. Pamela is a real tough case. Both our investigators are just our teachers but they put on the character of someone they met on their missions. Appearantly Pamela was a tough case.

 

Pamela is 18 and only let us in because she didnt have anything else to do. She does not pay attention at all in the lesson and her life seems quite pointless to her. We are trying to give her a purpose to life but she wont even listen. At one point in time she even started playing her IPAD during the lesson it is hard.

Alejandro is also 18 but he is like a golden investigator. He asks questions and pays attention and has been looking for churches he is just great.

 

Hermana Haws, acting for Pamela, is from Alpine UT and she is like a female Holland, seriously. She teaches with power and boldness. She told us basically that we need to stop focusing on ourselves and focus on the investigator. She said that up until now in our lives it has been me, me, me, me, me. We have never had to worry about some one else. She said we are still worrying about ourselves and that we are going to mess up while speaking Spanish. She told us to get our heads out of the box and learn to love like christ did and have charity. So I really took that one internally and I read a scripure in the BOM that says we need to pray for our hearts to be filled with love. So Elder Kupferer and I fasted a for that love on tuesday and I feel like we really did increase our love and charity for others. It was awesome because that night that we fasted We had a MTC devotional broad casted from Provo and Elder Anderson focused on that very subject of Charity and it was like it was straight for me and elder kupferer.

 

The broadcast was awesome. We made history apparently because it was the largest mtc broadcast ever to like 5 other languages and like 5,000 missionaries. It was great.

 

Sad thing was the day I fasted it was supposed to be pizza night but the ran out so all i ate that day was cold cereal! It was one of the easiest fasts i have don though because of my intentions.

 

Hermana Haws´ claim to fame is that she tutored Jimmer Fredette @ BYU and so she believes it is because of her that he is now in the NBA.

 

Hermana Valdez is our other teacher acting as Alejandro and he is awesome too.

 

The best part of the MTC is learning soo much about the gospel. SOOOO much study time and when you plan out that study time and you really get into it I learn a ton.

 

Is the Banana melon done yet?!?!?!? let me know how it tastes.

Love,

ELder allen