March 30, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was a great week for us. 

Monday we spent the day in Iola. We played a couple rounds of Frisbee golf at the new course in Iola. The Sisters also came and played with us. After dinner we went to the Shaws. We taught Beth and Jeff about the Priesthood.  We were able to use the Priesthood and give Beth a blessing for her pregnancy. 

District

Tuesday we went to bingo like we do every week. The people there were so excited to play. We also meet with Sister Wright and Tina. We couldn't find a male to come with us so we sat outside and talk about Repentance. While we were meeting with them AJ came by. It was great to be able to talk with him. He brought his dog, Jeep.  When he was about ready to leave the dog didn't want to. He was curled up around my feet. I think it got attached to me with us coming by every week. 

Wednesday was district meeting. Before that, we were doing studies in the building since our appointment didn't work out. District meeting was great, the zone leaders and another missionary did a surprise visit. We were talked about ways to use the new Easter video. It is a great video. We also did service with Mason. We help him clean out a room for a new roommate to move in. We had the dumpster fill so high with there being tons of trash already in it.  We also visited Scott, we read Moroni 8 with him to resolve some of his concerns. 

Thursday we went to Stark!  We visited with Mr. Ford and Sister Isom. It was cool to see Sister Isom being able to walk again after a surgery. In the evening we taught Eli, he is one of the youth in the ward that we are teaching the lessons to. It was awesome to be able to teach him plus practice our teaching skills.  

Elder Allen, Elder Tolman, Jeff and Beth Dayberry, Sister Bressler, Sister Olson, and Sister Coats

Friday we meet with Percy, while we were meeting with him, he introduced us to his brother Matt. Matt just lost his wife and I hope we will be able to teach him the plan of salvation.  We also went to the library and watched the new Easter video again. We put it on a disk so we could show it to everyone that doesn't have access to the Internet.  While we were tracting we ran into a lady that has Mormon friends but didn't want to talk with us at the moment. It was nice to be able to give her a card to watch the Easter movie.  We visited the Pass family and it was just the parents so we were able to talk without much distractions. 

Saturday was a busy day for us. We visited the Hannons. As we were leaving he told us that we must have been inspired to stop by when we did.  We also visited the Akins. We show them the Easter video. I love watching it. 

Sunday we filled the Font for a baptism. We had hot water heater problems. We did get it filled with hot water. The baptism went great. It was Beth and Jeff’s baptism. There was a great turnout with members. Church was awesome busy day with fast Sunday and 5th Sunday and the baptism. We had dinner with Bishop and his family. We also went to the Yates center. The road to the town was closed for bridge repairs, we took the back road it was a fun drive. 

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

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

March 23, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was a great week for us.

Monday was awesome weather so we played a round of Frisbee golf at the local park. We had dinner with the Wrights. A whole bunch of their kids plus grandkids were there.  It was an awesome pday.

Tuesday: It was a busy day.  We went to the Funeral of Myra. There tons of people we knew and interacted with here in town. I'm glad that we went because we were able to comfort them and help out. We were planning on going to bingo but they canceled it. It made it possible for us to stay and talk with tons of people and have lunch. I think it cool to see how things work out for the best. The Lord is awesome with making things work for the best.

Wednesday was interviews! We woke up real early to get to the Paola building. We had car inspections, we had washed the car but by time it was inspected it had tons of dirt and bug guts on it. Interviews with President and Sister Vest were great. We also had Zone training from our Zone leaders. It was lots on how to find better. We are always looking for better ways. I think the Best is working with the members and have them do missionary work. We went out with Brother Taylor in the evening. We were able to meet with Scott and talk about the Book of Mormon.

Thursday: Brother Snyder took us to the Compost part of the landfill. We drop of the leaves that we raked up around the house. It was a fun adventure. We also had weekly planning. We had dinner with the Snyder’s. Afterwards we went to the Pass family. We talked about everything going on. We committed them to do the 12 step addiction recovery program with them.  We also saw James. It was an interesting visit because he had some friend over that we didn't know that were weird. We made it out safe so I’m glad.

Friday we had our plumbing stop working. The whole plumbing backed up. We went to the church early to use their restrooms. With us being early we help the Greenwalls clean the Church with the Sisters. We also met with Bishop and talked about the missionary work here. It was awesome to be able to ask him questions about members. We met with the Tolands again and Sister Greenwall went with us. She is friends with them. We talked about the Book of Mormon with them and about Nephi and his challenges in life. The Gurnseys were awesome and let us use their showers.

Saturday we had the Temple trip.  It was awesome! We drove up with the ward in the Faweson’s 15-passenger van. While we were there I saw bishop Barzee. He informed us that New Mark is getting spit again and the Smithville lake branch is getting formed.  I also saw a couple of members from KC 1st ward. It was awesome to see them.  We had dinner with the Hannons and had baby back ribs. We them went with the Gurensys to help the Andersons move in. The guy that was moving out hadn't finished moving out. We help him finish getting everything out.  The moving truck didn't get there. So we didn't help them move in.

Sunday we had church plus a linger longer. It was good. In the linger longer they showed the ward all the new apps and features on the website.  We had dinner with the Taylors. After dinner we visited Mason. He told us more of his weird stories plus that he joined a motorcycle gang.  We also were finally able to find Nate home with his wife. We were able to talk about the Book of Mormon.

Thanks for all you do for me and all the other missionaries. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Benjamin Allen

March 16, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Elder Tolman and I had a great week.

We started out the week with pday. We meet up with all the Elders and Sisters at the Stake Center. It is like 2 hours away.  We were able to go since we were planning on staying the night with the Zone Leaders.  It was cool to meet all the missionaries in the Stake. In the evening we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders in their ward. I went with Elder Verkler. We went out with a member named David. We tried to visit a couple of people. Those plans didn't work out so we helped a less active that just moved in. We help him assemble some chairs. It was a great evening.

Tuesday we woke up real early to be at Zone conference in Independence. Elder Renlund and his wife came for Salt Lake to meet with us. He had some great things to share with us.  He shared with us on how you can have ether a positive or negative attitude and the effort you put into missionary work. He told us that if we had both positive that our mission would be the best ever. We also saw the new Easter video “Because He Lives.” It was awesome.

Wednesday we raked all the leaves that we had in front of our house. They hadn't been raked all year. We filled 12 big bags full. I hope our neighbors now approve of our yard. We went out tracting and talked to a few people. More people are out and about with this warmer weather.   We had dinner with the Pattons.  Brother Patton went out with us in the Evening. We visited a few less actives. We asked them if they knew that some thing big (death) was going to happen in less that a year what would you want to change or do better at? It even made me stop and think.

Thursday we went around meeting tons of potentials in the Area book. We saw a couple nice people.  We visited James and we read 2 Nephi 31 with him. We also talked to a Presbyterian minister. At the end she pronounce blessing on both of us. It was real interesting!

Friday we meet with Purcy. He is a recent convert but not too active in coming to church. We read with him. We also went to Iola. We were able to talk to a lady that just lost her husband. It is great how the Lord puts us in places to help out. We were able to leave her with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We had dinner with the Adairs. They took us to a 50's hamburger shop. It was real old but good. We were able to meet with the Akins and the Fornels.  They are both part member Families.

Saturday was the wedding of Beth and Jeff. They are the sister’s investigators. The wedding was done by the bishop at the Church building. It started late and no one came dressed. It was interesting but good.  We were able to meet most of both of their families. We also had dinner with Bishop and his family. It was awesome to be able to get to know them.

Elder tolman, Jeff, Beth and Elder Allen

Sunday we had church. There weren’t lots at church with it being Spring Break. We had the High council come and spoke to us. It was an awesome talk. We didn't have anyone come. :(  After church we had dinner with Brother Greenwall. I was able to replace his power supply in his computer. We also visit a couple of people. This week was a good week. I'm excited for this week since we get to go to the Temple this Saturday.  

I hope you all have a great spring break. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

March 9, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was an interesting week for us. This weekend was great weather for us. It is like 70's.

We were able to find the Tolands. We were driving in Iola and found a pink house. We tracted the street and the next-door neighbor was the Tolands. They said to come back Friday. They were there for that appointment.  They are an older couple that have met missionaries before.  He had stroke a couple of years ago.  They both have been given Books of Mormons before just haven't read them.

We meet with Scott also this week. His addition is about done so they didn't have anything that we could help on.  We finally have met his girlfriend. We were able to give them another Book of Mormon and committed them to read.

We meet with Mason. We watched the Restoration video with him. We are trying to get him to feel what he felt at the time of his conversion. I love watching the video with people.  It can teach about Joseph Smith so much better with them being able to see it.

This week we also go some bad news. One of our investigator name Myra died this weekend. She is the daughter in law to the Pass family.   We don't know what happened. I hope she felt the Spirit and will accept the Gospel in the Sprit World. I hope this will help the Pass family take care of the things to make it to the temple.

Church was great. We had Tina, the Mother of the Pass family, come. She came by herself. The talks were awesome.  They were like they were talking to me.  There were on the power of prayer. I think they also help Sister Pass out with this tragedy in her family.

After church we went with Brother Taylor to see Sister Billington. She is home bound with back problems. We brought the sacrament to her and gave her a blessing. She is having a surgery this week. I hope it will help with the pain. I love being able to help these people like giving them the sacrament.

I'm excited for this week. We have a mission conference with a 70 coming. We also have Zone training and a wedding to go to. It just means lots of driving to be done.

I hope you all have a great week. Be safe and look for opportunities to share the gospel with those around you.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

"I found the best transportation to come home in."

Elder Allen

Elder Tolman

March 2, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was a good week for Elder Tolman and I.

Monday we drove up to Paolla to spend the day with the zone. Most of the zone was there. It's always fun to meet all the new missionaries.  We had dinner with Brother Robinson, it was the first time that he has feed the missionaries. He is doing a great job at trying to share the gospel.

Tuesday we went on exchanges. I stayed in this area and Elder Forsyth came from the other companionship. We had a busy day with Service at the Assisted living place. We also meet with Tina and Sister Wright.  We read and talked about the be attitudes that Jesus taught. We also had dinner with the Wrights. While we were there, I got to hold Lucy, the bird.  We also found out that a cat was living under our house. We scared him out and closed the opening. 

Lucy the bird

Wednesday we had district meeting.  We went to La Harpe, the people we wanted to try didn't answer their doors. We did have a good day out there. We were able to talk to a few people.   We went by the Shaws and found out that their house was on fire earlier that day. We were able to comfort them and help to reassure them. We had dinner with the Lee's. It was our first time and I hope we left a good impression.  The Patton's gave us a referral to see Bogden. We were able to meet him and share the Book of Mormon with him. It is awesome how the examples of members help lots with missionary work. 

Thursday we had a busy afternoon. We help the Shaws move out of their old burnt house into a small rental. They are downsizing houses so it was hard for them to decide what to take and what not too.  We also did weekly planning.  We had dinner with the Pattons. Almost this whole week's of dinners have been by the Pattons extended family.   We shared Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. How he was wanting to share it with his family. That should be our desire with the Gospel. 

Friday we went up to Iola to try to meet with a couple of people. Those plans didn't work out but we were able to talk to other people. We were able to talk to Brother Greenwall. He took us to the Cemetery to see a couple things. He thinks it's funny to take the missionaries picture next to the dead end sign. We had dinner with the Hannons. They were so excited to inform us that they had invited people over next week for us to teach. We meet with Mark and we brought Brother Snyder over to see if we would be able to teach more. That didn't work, Mark still told us tons of stories. 

Saturday it started to snow. It was bad so we weren't able to do much. We did have dinner with the Gurensys. After dinner we played some games with them since the Ward activity was cancelled with the amount of snowfall. Even church was cancelled that evening. I also help them with tightening all the table and chair legs.  

Sunday was also a day with not much done. Even more snow and then melting of it. We were able to try some people. Most of them didn't want to talk or wanted us to come some other time.

Thanks for all the letters and emails. I hope you have a great week. Be safe and enjoy the better weather. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen 

Largest Gas Can