Monday, December 29, 2014

Dec 29, 2014


Dear Family and Friends,
This week was a great week, lots happening. Christmas was the Best day this week.
Tuesday was the exchanges with the Mound City Elders. I went with Elder Pickup to Mound City. He is waiting for a visa to go to South Africa. We spent the day in Blue Mound. It is a little small town. We talked to most of the people living there. We didn’t find anyone too interested. We had dinner with the Andersons. They are the Senior missionary couple in the Branch. They had invited a friend to dinner his name was Gormon. We taught him about the Book of Mormon. We then meet with Keven, a Mayor of another small town. It was a great day.


Wednesday we had district meeting. We talked about Goals and how to become better missionaries. We all ate at Taco Bell and we saw again the couple we saw last week eating at Subway.  We went out to La Harp afterwards. We tried some people there. We saw a pond that had a diving board next to it.  We had dinner with the Taylors. They had invited their family and ward members to come. We had dinner, sang Christmas songs, and acted out the Nativity. The missionaries were the Shepherds.
Thursday was Christmas!!! We had fun opening all the Gifts. We had lunch with the Greenwalls. The Taylors were also there. They had stockings with little fun gifts and Candy. We went over to the Patton’s to Skype. Brother Patton told us some funny stories from his mission and Christmas. We help unload firewood that his father in law brought over. We had dinner with the Hannons. We were expecting there to be lots of family and friends over. It turns out that they were all there for lunch when the Sisters were there.  We had a good day.
Friday was lots of tracting. We talk to lots about Christ and their Christmas.  In the evening we went out with Dr Guernsey to see some people. All of our appointments fell through. We were able to visit the Allens and give the Grandma a blessing.
Saturday we went to Humboldt, a little town that we cover. Not many people up and going.  We did go out with Carl and saw La Donna. Brother Hannon was able to bare his testimony. He enjoyed it a lot. We visit the Pass family and shared the Plan of salvation. We saw the Coopers and we taught the kids they have about the restoration. It was a great day.
Sunday we had Church. None of our investigators came to church. It was good anyway.  We were able to talk with the Edwards. They are very nice. We had dinner with the Taylors. We have seen them a bunch this last week. We were walking to a door when a car honked at us. It turns out to be the Porters dropping a kid off. We also visited with David. He is doing good still busy with kids.
I hope you all had a great Christmas. Have a great week and new year. Thanks for all the letters. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen

Monday, December 22, 2014

Dec 22, 2014


Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a great week.

Tuesday we had a busy day.  We went to the Assisted living place to play Bingo with the old people. They look forward for us to come.  We also went to Sister Wright’s. There we read 3rd Nephi chapter one with Tina and the Pattons.  We also tried Aj, he let us in and we answered lots of his and his wife's questions.  We also went with Brother Snyder to see Jim. The Lesson went awesome. Bro Snyder was the right member present. He was able to connect with him.

Wednesday we had District Meeting. It was us plus the Sisters and the Mound City Elders and Senior couple.  We went over great ideas to find people in different ideas. We went to subway for lunch. There was a couple there that the Sisters got an appointment with.  We found a couple of people that we got return appointments with. We had dinner with Bro Slaugh.  When we got out there was freezing rain all over.  The roads were slick. We were able to meet with Scott. He was cooking all kinds of food for his kids in his school class.

Thursday we had a busy day. We also found a couple more people that we gave “He is the Gift” cards. We had dinner with Aj and his Family. We had some great fried Chicken. We taught them all the Restoration. We set them all on baptism date for Jan 18th.  We also hear from a member of the ward that is in City council. That a guy we knocked on the door the day before had called the cops and was telling everyone that he doesn't want us to come back. We only wished him a Merry Christmas.

Friday we saw the Jessephs. We also went tracting and knocked on a ton of abandon houses. We didn't find many people that were home in this area.  We had dinner with the Hannons. We ate fried tacos.  

Saturday we had appointment with Brother Burkman. We then went to the Pass family to help build their porch. It was a fun project. It was muddy but we got lots done. They had a couple of dogs that were everywhere. Always where we wanted to be or in the way.  They had part of their family there that is not members. They have tons interesting stories.

Sunday was the ward Christmas program.  There were tons of people that didn't make it to church. Lots are in hospitals and sick. No one that could play the piano was there. Elder Hansen was the only one and played for the whole meeting.  It went good everything worked out.  We didn't get any investigators there.  I meet a couple that the other Elder Allen, The McMillians.  We got tons of bread from people most of it was banana bread.  We spent the day in Iola. We didn't have any of our return appointment work out.  We did get a referral for some less actives. We had dinner with the Taylors. We will be spending lots of time with the extended Taylor family this week.  We got to teach Steven. They had 3 week old puppies that we got to hold. They were so soft.

I hope you all have a great Christmas. I hope you are all safe and have a great week. I love you all. Looking forward to call home.

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen

1.  What time are you Skyping?  Any time is good.  Remember that if you want to skype at the same time as Andrew that is great but you have to be on a computer and not an ipad or iphone.
Would 2 our time work for you all? We have a breakfast with the Greenwalls at 11. We will be at the Pattons to Skype.

 2.  How big is the ward you are in?  How many towns do you cover?
We are about 90 by 70 miles. There are two main towns we visit often. We are like 3 hours from the mission office. We can drive for about two hours to get to bigger meetings in our stake.

3.  How many missionaries are in your ward?
We have a set of sisters and us.


Monday, December 15, 2014

Dec 15, 2014


Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a great week. There was lots of driving to do.

Monday was P day.   We spent the day as a zone in Payola. We practiced for the Song that we would be singing for the Conference. We had a great time.

Tuesday we were walking and ran into a lady that we had met a couple of week ago. It turns out that she knows our recent converts and wants to come back. We did our service for the week playing bingo with the old people. It was fun.   They look forward to us and expect us to come.  We meet with Tina and Sister Wrights. We read out of the Book of Mormon. We read about Jesus Christ coming to the Americas.  We were able to get in with Floyd and we talked about the Bible and the Book of Mormon. He told us over and over that he is a believing man. After dinner we were off to the Zone leaders place for the Evening. We stay there so we can get to the Mission office in a reasonable time.  On the way there I had forgotten to get gas. When we did get to a gas station the tank was almost empty. 

Wednesday was our All mission Conference. Everyone was there.  We had talks about our thoughts and about the things happening around us like the Book of Mormon play.  We had an awesome lunch.  It was Chicken and potatoes with Pie. We then had an all mission picture. Sister Anderson from my last ward came to take it.  It was a lot of work to get everyone in.  We had a Christmas program afterwards. Every Zone did a song. We did O little town of Bethlehem. It lasted until 5. On our way back we stop at Oklahoma Joe's. It is awesome BBQ.  We didn’t make it back to our place until after 9.

Thursday all of our plans fell through. We couldn't find anyone home. We did some tracting and everyone wasn't interested.  We meet an atheist. The evening was better.   We were able to teach RJ. We taught it at the Shaw’s. Everyone was sitting down but still a lot was happening. We had dinner with Brother Slough. We went to the Red Pepper.  It had moved and took awhile to find it.  After that we taught the Hannons the first new member lesson.  We then meet James an Investigator that was so close to Baptism before he got anti. Very unique person.  he was excited to come to the Christmas party. Turns out that he knows some members. 

Friday we did service for Linda. She needed help with cleaning out a shed. Afterwards we went to lunch at pizza hut.  We also went to the Library and I figured out how to put the video He is the Gift on DVD. We took it around to show it to everyone. We had dinner with the Adairs. They took us to El Pueblitos. It was good Mexican food. After that we saw the Pass family and the Coopers. We watched the movie with them. I love watching it. 

Saturday we talked to lots of people. We found a new investigator.  It was a father of a potential that we found a couple of weeks ago. We were looking for Tj but he wasn't there. He was in a drug rehab place. The Father was grateful for our concern and wants us to come back and share a message with him.  We had the ward Christmas party. Lots of people came. We had to use every table in the building.  We almost ran out of food. We had tons of investigators that made it. There was a program afterwards and it brought the Spirit in. 

Sunday we had Church. Not one of our investigators came. They came to the Party and not church. There was only one of the speakers that showed up.  After church we had Bishop's youth discussion it was on the Topic of patriarchal blessings. We were able to meet with a couple of people in Iola. We had dinner with the Taylors. It rained for the whole evening. Lots of water!! We were able to talk with the Kellers. They showed us all the new toys and technology there is. 

Thanks for all the letters and the Love this Christmas season. I hope you all have a great week. 

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen

Monday, December 8, 2014

Dec 8, 2014


Dear Family and Friends,

This was a great week, lots happened.  Monday after shopping and emailing we went to the Body shop. We had to take the car is since it had a broken headlight. Before I had gotten here the Elders hit a deer and it broke the Light.  We did lots of walking that night. 

Tuesday we did even more walking. We had service at the rehab center with the old people.  We played bingo with them and they were so excited to have us come and spend some time with them. After that we had our weekly meeting at Sister Wrights home.  The less active Pattons came with their new baby and we also had Sister Pass. She is the only one in her family that isn't a member yet. We read the last chapter of the Book of Mormon with them.  We had dinner with the Guernsey Family. After dinner they took a picture of us and the kids to put on Facebook. By the next day there were like 50 likes on it.  We went to Brother Burkman.   We were able to teach him the shorten lesson on the restoration.

Wednesday it was another cold day.  We saw lots of people. One family was the Allen Family. They were so excited to have a Missionary with the name Allen.  We have been inviting everyone to watch the movie called He is the Gift. We did some tracting and found some people that I hope will continue to meet with us. 

Thursday we had weekly planning. We also got our car back. It was all fixed.  We were also finally able to visit all the people far out. In the evening we went to see Carl and Kim. I help them start their Family history, for us to be able to go to the Temple with them. After they started they were calling everyone looking for info to put in. 

Friday we woke up early to drive to Paola. We had zone training.  They stressed the Area book and us keeping it up to date.  It was a long training. After wards we went out to eat at a Chinese food buffet.  We had dinner with the Hannon. They made chicken fried steak. They were excited to go to the Temple the next day. 

Saturday was another early day. We rode with the Lees to the Temple. It was a 2 and 1/2 hour drive there and back. It was awesome to be in the temple. I was able to confirm Bro Hannon for his ancestors.  We went to Olive Garden and had endless soup and salad. I love their bread sticks. We spent the day in Iola afterward. We also saw the Pass family. They all said they would come.

Elders, The Hannons, Elder Hansen, Elder Allen

Sunday we had a surprise visitor at our ward. It was President and Sister Vest. There were 4 baby blessings in a row. Both Patton families had their babies blessed and the younger Pass Family had their two babies blessed also.  I taught Gospel principles, and we had president there.  We were able to visit Bro Swenson. He told us the same story over and over. He had a stroke and it hinders his short-term memory. We had invited people to come to the Devotional but none came. I enjoyed it.   

Thanks for all the Letters and emails. I hope you all have a great week. All ways remember the true reason we have Christmas. That is because of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen




Monday, December 1, 2014

Dec 1, 2014


Dear Family and Friends,

This was an Interesting week.  It was transfer week.

Monday was our P day.

Tuesday we still didn't know what was happening. We just went through out the day just expecting both of us to stay. We were able to meet with Josh. We read about Nephi and him building the ship.  We were able to go all the way out to the Crim's house. We went to drop off containers that they had given us with food in them. We were expecting that we couldn't stay since Brother Crim wouldn't be home. Turns out that he was and he let us in and we visited for a while. We had dinner with the Bueschers. Afterwards we had to go to the Stake Center to let Elder Avey interview some one for baptism.  We got the call super late informing us that I would be going to Iola, Kansas.
 
One last picture with Elder Avey


Wednesday I packed and we went by some people to say goodbye.  We went by Josh. He was going out to dig holes for post for a Chicken coup.  We were able to help him dig. We also saw the Johnsons. We even stop by the sweet shop to say good-bye to Harley.  It was sad havening to say good-bye to this ward.

Thursday was transfers.  We all meet at the Mission Office. My new companion Is Elder Hansen.  We are in the Iola Ward serving in Chanute. I hear it the closest place to the center of the United States. It took over 2 hours to drive to our place. I will be the Full time driver here. It was cool to be able to go somewhere I've never been before. First time serving all in the Kansas side. We had Thanksgiving with the Grams. They had lots of family over. Part of them are members and some are not. We had a hard time talking to people after dinner.

Kansas City Royal's horse
Friday was a good day. We spent the day in Spark and Erie. Visited members. There are like 50 people that live in Stark.  We had dinner with the Patton family.  It was great.  It is funny how everyone is related to part of the town.

Saturday we went out to Attona another town we cover and met some nice people. Tons of room between houses. We taught the Pass family about Eternal marriage. We also saw Carl and Kim, they just got baptized last Sunday.  They are going on the temple trip this Saturday so we might be able to go.

Sunday was great. This area is a ward but there aren't tons of people. It is like the size of a branch.  We have lots of great people here. We talked about the Book Of Mormon play that is coming to KC and how to use it as a missionary tool. We had dinner with the Taylors. We spent the day in Iola. We meet with David an investigator.  He lives right next to members. He had an old video game arcade plus a soda machine on his porch.

I am having a great time here. I hope you have a great week. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Benjamin Allen