Monday, November 25, 2013

Nov 25, 2013


Dear Family and Friends,

This week was an Interesting week. The weather has gotten real cold. Saturday it was 25 outside for part of the day. This week we biked and walk since we didn't have the car.

Tuesday we biked lots. We meet with a couple that have meet with missionaries before. They are Catholic but were just trying to bash with us. We then biked and tried to see lots of people but no one answered their doors.  Our dinner fell thought so we went down to the church and ate the left over food from the R.S. activity. They were having a Thanksgiving dinner with a talent show. We helped in the kitchen and did the dishes in return for some dinner.

Wednesday it rained lots.  We tried to see people but it seemed that no one wants to talk with us when it gets cold. We were able to see David and talk with him about the Temple and what he needs to do to enter into the Temple.

Thursday it rain even more. We bike down one of the bike trails and got covered in mud. We got on the bus to take us to the East part of our area and the bus driver gave us a free ride.  We were able to find some people to teach and found some former investigators that want to meet with us again. When we made it to dinner we were cold and wet and covered in mud. We had biked like 15 miles that day. We had soup for dinner, which was great. We then had correlation with our ward mission leader.

Friday we had a district meeting in Lee Summit since we have the Zone leaders in our district and it is closer for them to go there than come to Kansas City. Elder Horne is the district leader and gave training on the Book of Mormon. We went out to Pizza Street for lunch. It is an all you can eat pizza place. After District meeting we bike to the closest CVS to take Elder Horne to see a nurse. He woke up with lots of bites on his arms.  They told us that they thought it was bed bugs. We had dinner with the McCreas and had a feast.  She had cooked tons of food for us. She even sent the rest home with us. Our appointment with Kay didn't work since there was some miscommunication with every one.

Saturday we had the Mission office bring over new beds. We (Elder Lilywhite and I) then rewired the Air handler to heat up the apartment. We got the apartment up to 111. We were able to teach some great lessons. We meet with Lela and Bro. Wright. We taught Shirley and Martino about the plan of salvation. We then had stake conference. We were invited to the adult meeting since it was on missionary work. President Keyes spoke and President Goodson spoke. Then they had a Question and Answer about being member missionaries. Bro. Graham gave us a ride there and back since we didn't have the miles to drive.

Sunday we had the rest of stake conference. President and Sister Hardy (Kansas City Temple president) came and spoke. They spoke on the importance of the Temple and what blessings it can bring to others. They told the story of Sky and Lila. He also told his story of breaking his neck by falling head first down a flight of stairs. He is still in a neck brace, but doing all the things he is required to do. President Goodson gave the stake a challenge to study Preach my gospel by the next stake conference.  We then had a great lesson with Martino and taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week has been a good but interesting week. It is getting cold and might snow this coming week. I am excited for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the letters I enjoy reading them. I miss you and hope you have a great Thanksgiving.
Love,
 Elder Benjamin Allen

This was a sign that was on the Allen’s door that live in the ward. I think it is funny that they have a reference from the Book of Mormon.
"And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hears of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things."  1 Nephi 11:22

Monday, November 18, 2013

Nov 18, 2013


Dear Family And Friends

I am doing great, lots happen this week. This week was transfers. Elder Weatherford was transferred to Independence.
 
Benjamin and Elder Weatherford
Monday we went shopping and went to thrift stores but didn't find anything that I could get. We went out to Lee summit and went bowling with most of the Elders in the Area. It was fun to be able to go bowling. I got the 3rd highest score on one of the games.

Tuesday we were able to meet with Donzell. We taught him about how his thoughts lead to actions and then to habits. He is trying to quit smoking to become a member again.  We meet with Alex and taught her about Jesus Christ and the Gospel that He set up. We then saw Shirley but not Martino he was at basketball practice. We taught her about the plan of salvation.  We had dinner with Bishop and his family.  After dinner we meet with Bishop to update him about the members of the ward. We have been seeing lots of the members that are unknown on the list.

Wednesday Elder Weatherford packed and we went around telling people good by. While he was packing I cleaned the apartment so it would be nice and clean for the new Elder. 

Thursday was transfers. We drove to Independence to the mission office to meet for transfers and to pick up our new companions. My new companion Is Elder Horne.  He is from California and has been out for a year. He served in Topeka in the same ward where Elder Andrew Allen is.  He served there for 6 months then went to Liberty. His ward was the one around the Temple. We had dinner with the Laseur Family then had a lesson with them. We taught them about Jesus Christ and what He did for us.  We tried to have correlation with the ward missionaries but no one showed up and Bro Belliston was called into work. We were able to finally find Ty and Amy at home. They are both working and are very busy.

Friday we saw lots of people.  We tried lots of former investigators and less active members. We learned that most of them have moved. The appointments we did have canceled on us. We help a man rake up his leaves and bag them. We were able to also find some new people to teach.

Saturday was a busy day. We had a baptism we need to go to Since Elder Horne need to baptize Tina. It was back in his old area so we had to find a member to take us.  We found one to take us then the time of the baptism changed so we had to find some one different to take us.  It was a great baptism.  After the baptism the sister missionaries in the ward wanted to each have a blessing. Elder Horne gave one to sister Perez. I was asked by Sister Jacobs to give her a blessing. It was the first that I given to a missionary. It was great to have the Priesthood and to be able to give a blessing. I know what I said was what the Lord wanted me to say to Sister Jacobs, We had a busy day after the baptism. We taught Martino and read with him from the Book of Mormon.

Sunday we had 5 investigators that came to church. I was able to help with the sacrament and bless the bread. We tried lots of people in the south part of the ward. We were able to meet with lots of people. Then after dinner no one wanted to talk with us since the Chefs were playing. 

This week has been great but a little hard since I now had to make all the decisions.  I miss Elder Weatherford but Elder Horne is cool and has lots of experience.  This transfer is going to be short and only 5 weeks.  I might be leaving this next transfer. So if you want to send me things it would be nice if I could get them before the 18th of December. I love this area and the people here in Kansas City. They are awesome.

I love you all.
Elder Benjamin Allen.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Nov 11, 2013


Dear Family and Friends,

This week went well, we were able to see lots of people.

Tuesday we had a special training where President Keyes taught us what he had learned at the Mission Presidents conference. It was half of the mission gathered together at one time. We were taught lots of great things on how to be more effective as missionaries. The spirit was really strong there. It was also great to see missionaries that came out with me. That almost took all day. After dinner we had a great lesson with Alex, we taught her about the plan of salvation. I was able to invite her to baptism. She accepted and is planning for the 14th of December.

Wednesday we went to the farthest east of our area. We took the bus since we don't have the car and Elder Weatherford didn't have a bike. We were able to see some people. While we were out there waiting for the bus a member in a different stake picked us up and dropped us off at our next appointment. It was nice of him to do that for us. We were able to give Sister Pitt a blessing before surgery on her eye. We had a good lesson with Sean.  We read from the Book of Mormon. We read about King Benjamin.

Thursday we meet a guy named Issac.  He is a worker at a restaurant. While we were walking past he yelled at us to come and teach him. We taught him a little but learned that he just wanted to debate with us. We had our appointments cancel. We were still able to see people. We ran to catch the bus one time and the bus driver was so nice to wait for us. We had correlation with the ward this evening.

Friday was exchanges with the North Elders. Elder Smith came with me to my area. We had a great day together. We taught a lesson to Maryella.  She is from Mexico and knows only a little English. I wish on of us could speak Spanish.  We had a great time together. We found some new people to teach.

Saturday we had a great day planned but it just didn't go as planned. We taught Sherlly about the restoration and invited her to be baptized and she accepted then we taught her grandson Martino and he also accepted and invitation to be baptized. We went to David's and taught him about the Priesthood since Bishop wanted to meet with him on Sunday. We were able to meet with Monal and Amit. They are from India. We talked about the Book of Mormon and read some with them from it.

Sunday we had 4 of our investigators at church. The ward fellowship them very well. After Church Elder Weatherford and I walked 3 miles to meet with a investigator and he wasn't home so we walked back. We had dinner with the Condies and they invited Sherrly and her grandson over for dinner. It went well they loved being able to get to know some members of the ward.

Next week we have transfers and I think Elder Weatherford will be leaving. He has been here for 6 months. He still hasn't gotten his visa to India. I think I will stay here and get a new companion. 

Thanks for the letters and Emails. I love you.
Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen

Monday, November 4, 2013

Nov 4, 2013


This week was busy very busy. We saw lots of people.

Tuesday, We gave a member in the ward, named Sister Dowling, a blessing. I was the one that gave her the blessing. She requested a blessing because of some health problems. We saw David R. and taught him about the time line of the Book of Mormon and Bible. We had dinner with the Clements and had pizza. After dinner we meet with the Laseur family. Brother Laseur is a member that wants to become active again and his wife wants to know what we believe.

Wednesday, we did some service for Sister Pitt.  We cut down vines and weeds and fixed one of her doors. While we were outside it started to rain. It poured and we left completely wet. We tried lots of people and most of them were not home. We had dinner with the Strubs. They are two history students and know lots of history and can talk about any history event. We had an awesome lesson with Sean. We taught him about how Faith and being obedient to the commandments.  Then you faith will grow. He gave us a large bag of candy like 115 pieces.  Elder Weatherford ripped open the bag when we got home and the candy went every where.

Thursday, Halloween!!  We saw the Biggs, we taught them about being member missionary and how to share the gospel. We got a referral from other missionaries to see James. He is a bus driver for the Metro. He had talked to missionaries that had been on his bus. We taught him about the restoration and left him with a Book of Mormon.  We had dinner with the Sloops. They are a couple that is in there 80's. They made us Spaghetti and bread. We also had Ice cream and hot cookies.  They sent us home with tons of candy. We couldn't go out and see people, so we all 4 elders went to David's place. We played hangman with him using names from the Book of Mormon.

Friday, we had district meeting. Elder Weatherford did the training on the Holy Ghost. We then went on Exchanges with Kc3rd. Elder Thomas came to stay with me in our area. We tracked a lot and had an appointment with Mike. We answered his questions on baptism. He is an interesting person. We had dinner with Sister Gay. We had Chinese food.  Kay was sick so we didn't have a lesson after dinner. We couldn't find any one home.

Saturday we exchanged back in the morning. We had correlation with Bro Belliston. We were able to find lots of people home. We found some new investigators. We had dinner with Sister Hernandez. She has a next-door neighbor that is interested in our church. We were able to teach her a lesson after dinner. We had all 4 elder there since there were no males there. It was weird to teach with 3 other Elders all at one time. We also went to the house of a member that just moved in. She wanted her house blessed. It was my first time participating in blessing a home. 

Sunday, It was Fast Sunday. We had 3 of our investigators at church. Elder Weatherford and I taught Sunday school to the 13 year olds all the way up to the 18 year olds.  We taught them about being Self reliant and about missions.  After church we played Tracto with the Elders in the district. It is like bingo just you do it while tracking. I was fun to play.  We knocked on lots of doors and met some weird people.  We had dinner with Orts. They made Hawaiian haystacks. It was great.

This week was a great week we taught lots of lessons and did some service. This area is growing we are getting lots of people to teach. I am exited for tomorrow when we have a special training by president. We will teach us what he learned from the mission president training. The weather is so nice now. The trees are turning colors.  I love it here. I miss you all and hope you are doing great,

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen