Monday, October 28, 2013

Oct 28, 2013


Dear Family And Friends,

This week was very good. We did have a baptism this week. David R. did get baptized by Elder Weatherford. We didn't have that many people show up for the baptism. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. On Sunday I was able to stand in the circle when David was confirmed a member and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a great experience.  Looking back now I didn't think that David would have made it this far, but it is because of the gospel and the Spirit working on him.

Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Keyes. We also had training by the district leaders. It went well.  I was the last one to be interviewed.  I also got the okay to drive.  We had dinner with Bishop and his family. It is great to be able to talk with Bishop about the ward.

Wednesday we had a lunch appointment with Steve. We meet at Jack Stack, all the way at the top of the ward in the other Elder’s area.  It was some very good BBQ. It was super nice that he paid for all of us. He is super busy so he wants to meet in the spring when he is less busy.  We then helped Bro. Hamm do some things around the house. We were trying to help him find a receipt since he can't look around for it.   We had dinner with the Biggs but before they feed us we had to move tons of tree debris to the road for pick up. While we were doing that Elder Weatherford stepped on two nails in a board that was in the pile.  We then had a great lesson with Sean. We taught him about Prophets.
  
Thursday and Friday we tried to see a lot of people, most of them canceled on us. We did get some new investigators from a referral that we got. We also found a lady that had meet with missionaries before and was ready to meet again. We got in with a less active member and his wife wants us to come back and answer some questions she has about the church. He wants to become active so he can go to the temple some day.

Saturday we had correlation with Bro Belliston.  While we were doing that we had the font filling.  It took 2 and a half hours to fill it. The building is super old and has a tiny water tank. It is almost like the old Lehi stake center. When Elder Weatherford baptized David, the wave was super big and it went into the bathrooms.  We then had the ward party. It was good.  We had a Chili cook off. There was lots of good Chili. We got lots of candy.  The members came up to us elders and gave us candy since they knew we couldn't go trick or treating.
Elder Weatherford, David and Elder Benjamin Allen

Sunday we had 4 investigators at church. The less active member and his wife and son came. This week was the primary program. It was funny to watch all the kids. This ward has a lot of young kids but not a lot of older kids.  Our dinner appointment canceled on us but they did give us a frozen lasagna to cook.  It took forever to cook it since she had just taken it out of the freezer.

This week was awesome. I am glad that we were able to have the baptism. We had a very busy week. I am thankful to be a missionary and to be able to serve in this mission. I am thankful for all the letters. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen

Monday, October 21, 2013

Oct 21, 2013


Dear Family and Friends,

This week was good. We had lots of interesting things this last week. We had the car this week.

Monday was p-day.  We went to the stake center to play basketball and other sports.  We had Dinner with Sister Biggs and her daughter Sister Miller. They fed us Mexican food. It was awesome. Then we went up to Saint Luke’s hospital to give a blessing. We had a hard time finding the person since the Zone leaders didn't give us to much info from some other zone leaders that got it from some sisters in one of the zone. But we were able to find him and give him a blessing.

Tuesday we tried and saw lots of less actives and potential investigators in the bottom part of our ward. We meet with David R. and went over the baptismal Interview Questions with him.  I think he is ready for baptism. We are having President Heapworth interview him next Wednesday.

Wednesday we had Zone meeting and we learned that our zone is going to split and 2 other zones are also going to split this next transfer. We also learned that this mission is going to get more Sisters than Elders for the next 3 Transfers. There are already 265 missionaries counting the senior missionaries in this mission. We had a great dinner with a couple in the ward, the Ramirez family.  We then had a great lesson with Sean. We also had Logan with us.  He is one of the Priests in the ward. We taught him about prayer and personal revelation.

Thursday we had weekly planning, it went well then all of our appointments fell thought. We just didn't find any one home. The only person that we saw was David. We taught him more about Prophets and about the leaders of the church.

Friday It rained all day!  I am glad that we had the car. We were able to see Sister Biggs.   We taught her the first part of the first new member lesson. She also had us install a new door handle since she can’t with her broken arm.  We saw Marty again and talked forever about her job and her life. She works for a place that builds and fixes Electronic boards for airplanes. We had dinner with Sister Gay and Kay and Brother Bell. She made us spaghetti with home made meatballs and sauce. After dinner we taught Kay the Word of Wisdom. She took it great and said she would give up her coffee and tea.

Saturday we had correlation with Bro Belliston and one of the ward missionary, Nieene.  We then were able to meet with Donzell. He is still struggling with quitting smoking. We then had some of the appointments fall through. Brother Cunningham took us out that evening to see Bro Pervis. Bro Pervis is doing better. He looks better. He was excited to hear that David is ready to be baptized.

Sunday Church was good.  We were able to have 4 of our investigators come to church. The lessons were about our talents and how to use them. We had lunch with the Cunningham's. They made us waffles with all kinds of toppings. It was great. We saw David again and were able to figure out the program for his baptismal service this Saturday. He wanted Elder Weatherford to baptize him and for Elder Bitton to give a talk on baptism and for me to talk on the Holy Ghost.  He is ready to be baptized.   He has been inviting every one to it.  We were able to teach Monal and Ammitt.  They are from India. We taught them the restoration of the gospel. They had lots of questions and understood most of what we taught them.

This next week is going to be good. We have interviews with President Keyes on Tuesday. We have David's baptism on Saturday. I am exited to be able to talk at David's baptism. This week was great. Thanks for all of the letters.  I love you all.

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen

We had the fireside with Elder Ballard at the building next to the Temple and then it was broadcast to most of the stake centers in this area.  Elder Ballard didn’t shake anyone’s hands. He had us all stand and raise our hand and shake it in the air when he was shaking his hand.  Sky was there and when President Keyes and Elder Ballard and Elder Gay were leaving with their wives he ran around the building and was able to talk to them and President Keyes told them all about the things that he was going through. Elder Ballard gave him some advice and shook his hand.
 
Zone Conference - Oct 

Monday, October 14, 2013

October 14, 2013


Dear Family and Friends,

This week was good we had some great things happen to us this week. This week we had the bikes. We biked a lot this week.

On Tuesday we saw lots of less actives far out on the edge of our area. We took the bus out there and we got stopped since there was an accident that blocked all lanes going one direction. Most of the people we saw were not ready to come back. We did some tracking and talked to a lot of people. We did find someone that was ready to here about the gospel.

Wednesday we went to a different area and saw some less actives and investigators. One lady we saw was Sister Reed. She is real old and can't come to church because of her health. We talked to her about her mission and about her Experience of joining the Church. She has a great story. She also calls lots of less actives her age and talks to them weekly. We were able to meet with Sean and we taught him about Prophets and about the Law of Moses and why/how it was fulfilled. It was a great lesson.

Thursday we met with Mike and answered lots of his questions. He believes almost everything the church believes. He had lots of questions about things we don't teach people until after baptism. He liked the answers that we gave him. He is almost ready for baptism if he would come to church. We meet with David and he has decided that he is ready to pay tithing and is willing to follow the commandments. He is about ready to be baptized on the 26th.

Friday we had district meeting and Elder Weatherford taught us more about members being at our lessons and the importance of them. We had a great message or lesson with Bro. Hamm and Vickie. We went over why we need to continue to come to church and the blessings of the sacrament.  We had a great lesson with Kay at Sister Gay's house. We taught her about Jesus Christ and the importance of Him and about the church He set up. It was also great to hear Sister Gay's conversion story and the blessings she has seen from joining the church. Brother Bell was also there.  He just moved back into the ward and was so kind to give us a ride home with our bikes.

Saturday was a rough day, all of our appointments fell through. We help move the Heart’s out of the ward. This ward has a lot of people moving in and out. We didn't have much luck finding any one home.

Sunday was a better day than Saturday. Church was great, lots of good talks. David R. has had problems with his electric wheel chair so he walked to church. He didn't want to miss church. After Church we meet with Yandira. Brother Hails came with us since Yandira is learning English and speaks Spanish. We meet at the church and gave her a Church tour and she asked lots of great questions. I think that it went real well. I know that every one felt the spirit. After that we drove to Liberty to attend a fireside with our investigator Kay and Sister Gay. The Fireside was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberty Jail. Elder Ballard and Brother Gray of the 70's came to speak. President Keyes was the first speaker and spoke about his experiences of being a missionary and Mission President in this Area.  Brother Gray talked to us about Joseph Smith and what and why he had to go to Liberty Jail. Then Elder Ballard spoke, he talked about the changing world and about what we need to do to stay on the path back to Heavenly Father. He also spoke on the importance of the Temple, which was right outside. It was awesome to be able to hear and see him. It was cool to be able to see the Temple all lit up at night. I am glad that we were able to attend it.
 
Kansas City Missouri Temple
I am doing great here on my mission. Thanks for the letters.  I Love you all and miss you.

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen

Monday, October 7, 2013

October 7, 2013


Dear Family and Friends,

I had a great week, last week. Last week we had transfers and I am staying in KC1st with Elder Weatherford. Elder Weatherford hasn't got his visa yet. Elder Cortez left to go to the Independence Stake. Elder Bitton got a new companion named Elder N. Smith.  He came out with Elder Cortez. He is from Utah.

The weather here has been getting cold, it has been like 70's in the day and 40's at nighttime. We had the car this week. We had the opportunity to visit lots people this week with the use of the car. We saw...

Sister Biggs, she is a recent convert that moved into the ward just before I got here. She broke her arm this week.  We saw her on Thursday and while we were there she had an outlet and light not working. I was able to fix them for her.   It was real easy to fix.

We saw Brother Pervice, he is doing better, and he is now in a rehab place. He is getting his strength back and is looking tons better. They will not allow him to come to church, which is sad.

David R. is doing great. He is now ready to pay tithing and is doing great not smoking and drinking.  He wants to be baptized this month. He has a baptismal date for the 26th. He was able to watch 3 of the sessions.  He loved being able to see the prophet and the apostles  

Labrenda is moving this week. She is moving to Colorado.  We couldn't meet with her much since she is busy trying to finish everything to be able to move.

We meet with Kay at Sister Gay's house. We taught her about the plan of salvation. She wants to be baptized too and has a baptismal date for November 9th. 

On Tuesday we had some strong winds and a big branch fell onto Sister Gay's house and neighbor's house. We went over to help her and it took us 4 elders and her using the chain saw  hours to get it moved.

On Sunday night we had the opportunity to Give Kara a blessing. She has limes disease and is on a very hard diet to try to get ride of it.

We were able to watch all 5 sessions at our ward building.  We had 3 of our investigators come to the church to watch it with us. On Sunday we had a potluck in between the sections. I loved all of the talks. There were lots of talks that talked about following the Lord’s laws and standards.

This week was great and learned a lot. I love this area and glade that I can stay here for another transfer. I love the people here and the ward is great. I miss all of you but I am having a great time here, I love you all.

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen