Sept 29, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been an interesting week.  We had a lot of things pop up this week. The weather has been warm all week.

Monday we went to Independence. Elder Goro need to get his drivers license renewed so he went home for the day. I spent the day with the Independence Elders. We went Disk golfing behind one of the schools. There were 5 of us Elders. While we were playing Elder Young lost one of his Frisbees. We looked everywhere for it and couldn't find it.  We just continued on with the game.  A couple of holes latter the Frisbee was just sitting under the basket. It was fun playing it.  After dinner we went to a less active Family, we sang hymns with them.

Tuesday we did some service for the library. We went to the Genealogical branch and help move books from one row to a different row. I think that the most I have ever used the Dewey decimal system. We also did some help in the mission office. We talked to a lot of members and people.  It was a great day.  Elder Goro came back really late.

Wednesday we had a soon to be missionary with us for the day. We did studies together. We saw Josh and read with him out of the book of Alma. We also saw some of the less active families we can't visit by ourselves. It was great to have him with us, lots of different incites to missionary work.

Thursday we had an unannounced missionary meeting. The meeting was for us to watch the movie Meet the Mormons. It was a great movie.  It was funny and had lots of great stories. I glad that we had the opportunity to watch it. Now we can answer questions that people have on the movie.  We had dinner with the Bueschers and after dinner they went to the Temple again to do baptisms. I am glad that they are excited to go to the Temple

Friday we had Interviews with president Vest and his wife.  It was great to be able to talk with President Vest. The District leaders gave some great training. We started at 8:30 and it lasted till some time after 2.  We had to bail at 2 to go help the Johnsons move their stuff into their new house.  They have a nice house that is officially in the area. We had dinner with the Balinskys and had steak. We always eat great when we go over there.

Saturday we had our weekly missionary meeting with the ward Mission leader. After that we did our studies.  Later in the afternoon we saw Josh.   We answered his questions about Repenting. I think he has now realized the importance of the Law of Chastity and being married.  We had dinner with the Bakers, we ate at the Brick House in Smithville.  We were able to follow up with some of the people we had left Books of Mormon with.

Sunday was Fast Sunday for us. We had lots of great testimonies shared.  In Gospel principals brother Litster talked about General Conference and the blessing we have from it.  We had dinner with the Phillips. We tried a potential Investigator but She wasn't home but her roommate talk with us. We left her with a Book of Mormon to read because she was going to wait for her roommate to finish reading the Book.

Thanks for the support. I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Allen

September 22, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a great week. The weather has been hot and cold.

Tuesday after the Temple and Emailing we had dinner with Brother Homestead. He was by himself and made homemade tacos with chipotle sauce. They were awesome.

Wednesday we had district meeting. The topic was working with the ward council better. After District meeting we all went the Family History center. We spent some time on the Family history site.  After that we went on exchanges. Elder Webb and I came to my area for the day. We had a great day together. We talked to lots of people and handed out a couple of Books of Mormon. We tried to see Josh but he was out hunting.

Thursday we exchanged back after studies. We also did weekly planning.  We were able to see Josh and we read some out of the Book of Mormon with him.  We had dinner with Brother Freison and had some great ribs. We went out on team ups with the Mayor of Smithville. He is a great member.   We saw Josh and talked with him about his goals in life. We also visited with some people that didn't let us in but talked with us when we came with him.

Friday we did some so service and helped a family move their stuff into a storage unit because their new house isn't built. We also talked with a couple that we hadn't been able to talk with. It turns out that they are house sitting for her parents.  We visited some other people.

Saturday was good. We couldn't do much in Smithville because they were having their beer fest.  We visited with Josh and Michelle before she went out of town for a week.  We had dinner with the Bueschers. Brother Buescher was very busy with a music fest in Riverside this weekend. We visited with the Talents. She had surgery on her foot this week because she fell into a badger hole on her trip.

Sunday we had a young man give his farewell talk. The Choir sang an intermediate song called “A Marvelous Work”.  We had tons of people attending our ward.   We had dinner with the Smiths. The Tennys were there plus another family that was from Taylor, Az also. They were traveling and just happen to come to our ward and see the Tennys, We had a great evening talking to some people that we left Books of Mormon with.

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

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

September 16, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry this letter is a day late. Today Elder Goro and I went to the Temple this morning. We had to move our p-day to a day when the Temple was open so we went today. This week has been good.

Monday evening after dinner we went to Donnie's place. He was the one that we moved in a week or two ago. We talk with them about the Church and his girlfriend became a new investigator.

Tuesday we meet with Josh and talked about Mosiah 23 & 24.  We had dinner with the Bueschers and went to a Chinese place in our area. After dinner we went to the grocery store so they could pick up something. They introduced us to people that they knew also at the store.

Wednesday this week we had Zone Training. It was about what Effective thing we can do at every hour of the day. It was also some things that Elder Martino wants us to do.  After that we also went on Exchanges with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Hart in my area. We had a good day we were able to talk to some new people.  We had dinner with the Keeneys, the Family we live behind. We had Chinese Food.  The kids are doing a great job sharing the gospel with their friends and people they meet.

Thursday we exchanged back after we did studies with our different companion.  We had our appointments cancel so we had to find other things to do. We also had dinner with Bro Freison.  It turns out that he lived in Arizona and participated in the Easter pageant many years ago.

Friday we did our weekly planning for the week. We saw Josh again.   We watched part of last General conference with him. He is doing much better working to being ready for baptism.

Saturday we had an Ice cream party with the ward. We had a couple of less actives and Investigators make it to the activity. There was lots of games and Ice cream. We had dinner and a meeting with our ward mission leader.

This Sunday we had the primary program. It was a great program.  The kids did do great, they sang the songs so good.  The topic was about Eternal Families. We had dinner with the Jacksons and we talked about one of our investigator that the Jackson girls are friends with. We also saw the Balenskys  and talked with Brother Balensky about all kinds of stuff.

Monday was a workday.  We did some tracting. We talked to some people and left a book of Mormon with a guy. We had dinner with Brother Davis and he took us to the Chinese place that we have eaten at earlier this week.

Today we went to the Temple.  We had a great time there. Elder Goro saw a member that he knew.

Thanks for the letters and the mail. I hope you all have a great week. I'm having a great time helping people come closer to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father.

Love,

Elder Allen

Sept. 8, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was transfer week. It turns out that I am still in the same area. I am still with Elder Goro here in the Newmark ward.

Tuesday after emailing we went and saw Josh. We also worked some in Smithville trying to find less actives and find new people to teach. We also taught Logan about Joseph Smith before all the youth went to the Royal’s game. We had dinner with the Litsters. In the late evening we got the call about transfers and learned that we were both staying here.

Wednesday we had a slow day.  We couldn't find anyone home and interested in the message that we have. We were driving and saw a big accident with multiple cars in the crash. 

Thursday we had weekly planning. We also had dinner with the Bishop and his wife. The Sisters were also there so we were able to meet the new sister. After that we went with Brother Grady to see Josh. We talked about Baptism and that we thought he was ready. We also talked about not procrastinating. It was an awesome lesson.

Friday we also had a slow day we couldn’t find anyone that would talk to us. We had dinner with the Dedelows. We help them with some service afterwards. It was Sister Jarmen's birthday

Saturday we had our meeting with the Ward mission leader. We had better luck talking to people; we talked to some very nice people. We had dinner with the Homesteads and they had over a couple that weren't members and we had a great time with them. We have been inviting lots of People to an Ice Cream party the ward is having. I hope some people come.

Sunday was Fast Sunday we had two investigators make it to church, Josh and Brother Johnson. Sunday school topic was about the Importance of repentance. We had dinner with The Andersons. We talked about Sister Anderson’s trip to Salt Lake taking pictures of Church sites and historic places. They have a tradition where every missionary signs the glass door.

Thanks for all the letters and Emails. I am having a great time out here in Missouri. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all.

Elder Benjamin Allen

Sept 2, 2014

This week has been an awesome week. We had tons of little miracles happen to us and to those around us.

Tuesday was a good day.  We saw Josh and talked about the Family Proclamation. We saw and tried lots of people.  We were able to talk to a couple of people about the Restored Gospel. We had dinner with the Bakers.  They are missionaries that help people with family history questions.  After dinner we went to the church because they were having youth night. An investigator that we had lost contact with was there.  Her name was Logan.  She was invited by some of her friends to come to the activity.  After the activity we talked with her about her summer and set up a time to come back and teach her.

Wednesday we had district meeting. It was about how to be unified so the Lord can help us all together. We then were able to see David B. He is a youth in the ward that isn't active; we talked with him about School, work, and what ever else.  We found him a ride to church. We then saw Bro. Moore and talked with him about his missionary opportunities. In the evening we went and saw the Bueschers.  Sister Buescher had gone in earlier in the day to get part of her heart looked at. It went well.

Thursday we received a text saying that a family was moving in and would love some help. We went over and help them unload a Uhall truck. We didn't have a chance to change so we did it in our white shirts and slacks. They are very nice and he is a member and she isn't.   We had dinner with the Carlsons.  We then tried the Gambles, we have tried them before and had no luck but this time we were able to talk with them. It turns out that they are moving to Texas. While we were talking to them the Sisters show up. There were three of them; they were together because one of the sisters had left. We also were able to see Josh with Bro Talent. We talked about his testimony

Friday we did weekly planning because Thursday was too busy to do it.  We also tried to see some people, most of them didn't answer. We had dinner with the Litster family. Brother Litster was away on business trip. After dinner we were able to finally talk to someone at the Wrights home.

Saturday we had our meeting with our ward mission leader. We then help with a move. We help load all of Molly's things into a truck then a storage unit. In the evening we had a big storm roll in. It was big with lots of rain and lighting.

Sunday was good.  We attended church.  The sacrament meeting was about trials and that there is always something to learn from them.  The 5th Sunday lesson was done by Bishop. It was on the importance of teaching the kids the law of Chastity. The world is becoming even worse and the world's standards are changing but not the Church and their standards.  We went out with Bro Dooley and had an appointment fall through.  We had dinner with the Buescheres and then taught the last new member lesson with the help of Brother and Sister Keeney.

Monday was Labor Day. We went on a road trip with the Bueschers. We went to Far West. We saw the Temple site there. It was awesome, so calm and peace full. We also stop by the bookstore to look around.  It was great because there was so many things the Bueschers need there. They even got thing for Brother Buescher when he would get the Melchizedek priesthood. It was awesome to go up there with them. We also went to lunch in Karney and had some good country cooking.  We also spent some time with some other missionaries.

Far West Temple Site

Joseph Smith

Thanks for all the letters and the great support you all are. I hope you all have a great week. This week is Transfers so I will let you know what happens.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen