July 28, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was transfer week.  Elder Goro and I are staying together for another 6 weeks in the Newmark ward.

This week we did a lot of service. We help Stephanie pack some of her house so she could move to Indiana. They are moving to Indiana to be closer to family.  We also helped the Peerys do some yard work. We helped trim their trees and bushes. It was a blasted to be able to help them and be able to do some service. We also help the Dedelows white wash their fence. It was the first time I have ever white washed a fence. It was fun to do it because it was us and the Sisters and them all working and talking.

Josh is doing good.  We finished teaching him the fourth lesson. We still need to get him married but that is the hang up we are having with him at the moment. He came to church this week.

We found a couple of new people to teach this week. One was the son of a less active member that we didn't know anything about.

We meet with bishop and had a great meeting discussing what we could do better to work with the ward more.  We also had dinner with him and his wife.

The weather here has gotten a lot warmer. I am grateful we have a car that keeps us a little cooler.

This week we sang in the Choir. The choir in this ward is small.  So when the 4 missionaries get up to sing it almost doubles the size. We had dinner with the Smiths and she is the Choir director and she had us sing some songs before we left from dinner.

I would say the weirdest thing I have had would be tripe, the intestines of a cow, cooked with beans. I also had an investigator that was from Burma. He cooked us some interesting food. It was a rice and chicken dish. The chicken wasn't cooked all the way I think.

Thanks for the letters and the emails. I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

Benjamin.allen@myldsmail.net

July 21, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a great week for me.

The ward took the Bueschers to the Temple to do baptisms and we were able to participate. It was a great experience.  The Bueschers are doing family history so they had names to take to the Temple. I had the opportunity to be baptized for some of their family members. Elder Goro, my companion, baptized me.

I also went on Exchanges with the Platte City Elders. I stayed with Elder Webb. We had a great time together. We biked and walked. We spent some time in Tracy, a little town they cover. I meet all kinds of nice people in that ward when I was there.  I meet one of their investigators named Marisa that is so close to baptism.

We went to a baptism of a lady named Jenn that Some Missionaries in the Ysa branch had taught. It was a great baptism.  You could see how the gospel has blessed her life. It was a little sad that not lots of people from the branch showed up.

Josh is doing great. We are still working with him to get him married. He came to church and loved it and participates more that most of the members. We have been teaching him the commandments this week.

We gave a blessing to Carline this week. She isn't a member but her sister Sam is a member. She wanted a blessing since she has had problems with headaches and had just had a MRI and wanted comfort.  After the blessing we left her with a challenge to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it is true or not. She said she would.

So Sunday evening we took the Buechers to the Presidents devotional. It was at the Liberty Jail. We heard the testimonies of 5 converts then Sister Buescher got up and shared hers.   It was a great experience.  We then heard from our Mission President and his wife. It was great to listen to their insight. I know that they are doing great things for the mission.

 

Sister Gunter, Sister Jarmen, Bueschers, Elder Goro, Elder Allen

Thanks for all the letters and the prayers. I hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Allen

July 14, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a busy week for Elder Goro and I.  

We were able to meet our new mission President for the first time this week. We had interviews with him and his wife. The Vests are great people and very funny. The interviews took like an hour longer for our group than planned. They are from Texas and have served in many callings. He served a mission in Japan many years ago.

We taught Josh the third lesson, the one about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are working with him and his Girlfriend to get them married so he can be baptized. He came to church with Michel and had a good experience. He even met with Bishop to ask if he could marry them.

We taught the Bueschers the plan of Salvation again with their home teachers. It was awesome.   They were asking questions that most people don't think about.  On Sunday evening we went to the Historic Liberty Jail with them. That was a great experience. I hadn't been since the first day that I had arrived in the mission field.  We got a tour by a sister missionary that gave us a history lesson then took us to the replica. It was a small place for 6 men to spend a long time in.  The prophet did get some great revelations when he was there.

 

Missionaries from Arizona

We also found some new people to teach. One of them let us right in and asked us some questions. We left him with a Book of Mormon.  I hope he reads some by the time we come back.

We learned that Tasos is moving to live with a different daughter in this next week.  He says that this is good because he then can be baptized just not here in our ward.  I hope that daughter is more receptive to the church and will let him go and be baptized.

One of the members took us to Outback Steak House this week. It was some good steak.

Thanks of all the letters. I hope you all have a great week. Be safe

Love,

Elder Allen

July 7, 2014

Dear Family And Friends,

This week was a good week. 

Josh is doing great. We taught him the second lesson about the plan of salvation. It went great.  Josh has been reading and his testimony is growing. We can just see the conversion process working in his life. He came to church and had their baby blessed.  Her name is Ashley. We were able to stand in the circle for that.  That was a great experience.  We just need to get him married and to give up coffee and he will be ready.

We meet with Tasos. He is an 88-year-old man that loves the Book of Mormon and the Scriptures and teachings.  He just can't be baptized since his daughter will not allow it.  We went over and talked with him about the Book of Mormon and what he studied that day.  He knows so much. He is friends with the Bueshers and came to the baptism and wanted us to baptize him also that day but we couldn't because of the word of wisdom. He went home and started to quit the tobacco use. He is a great man.

We had dinner with the Bueshers this week and a different day we did some service. They are doing great. They love reading together from the scriptures and coming to church.  They have a son named Quinn. We are just getting to know him and trying to ease the church into the conversation. He is a nice kid.

So this week we had 4th of July.  We didn't have any thing special, no parties, we just tried to see people but no one was home so we just talked to people outside.

We also had zone training this week. It was in St Joe and the only missionaries that were the same was Sister Thompson and I. The training was on the importance of thinking about the end goal, the temple and that we want our investigators to make it all the way to the temple.

What is the most significant thing that you have learned?  I think it would be that if you receive a prompting from the Holy Ghost that you should act on it that moment. You might not know why or it might not work. I have see miracles come because of following those promptings.

What is the most fun thing you have done? I got to ride a riding lawn mower, one of those zero turn ones to cut the grass while doing service.

What is the most spiritual experience that you have had? I think I would say that it would be when we went to the temple with our mission President Keyes for the last time before he left. We had the Temple full of just missionaries.

What is the greatest thing you can do to make the next year even better? I will say just devote myself to the rest of my mission and to the Lord.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen