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