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

June 30, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a busy week.   We had lots of unusual things to do this week along with our missionary work.

This last week they divided the wards in our building and created a new ward. Six weeks ago they created a new ward using part of our ward. They are about to create a new stake. We are like an hour from the dirty joe and this Friday we are going up there for some meetings we are having.

Tuesday we had a Conference Call in with the Mission President where he said good bye to everyone. We then picked up a car from the mission office. While we were there we took care of other paper work for the baptism we had the last week end. We had dinner with the Doolys and afterward he went out with us on his birthday. We tried some people but no one was home. We then went tracting and talked to some great people. The member we had was great as he testified.

Wednesday we had district meeting.  We were able to give a blessing to a sister in the district. District meeting was focused on how we could use the members in finding and teaching.  We then went out with a return missionary. We saw a new family in the ward that moved in because they had a house fire. They are a very nice family. I hope this trial doesn't shake their testimony to much.

Thursday we had our studies and then weekly planning. We then saw Josh. We gave him a blessing for his kidney stones that he is having. He also wants to be baptized so we will be teaching him the lessons. We also saw the Buschers and talked with them about the temple and family history. The Sisters missionaries came over to drop off the dinner the member they live with had made for us. While they were out of their car their car was backed into and a dint was put into it. So tons of paper work was filled out.

Friday we went and had the oil changed and tires rotated. We then went to the mission office. Elder Goro needed to meet with President Keyes. We got there and President wasn't there. He didn't show up for over 2 hours.   We helped clean the office and make it all ready for the new mission president. It was sad to see President and sister Keyes for the last time. In the evening all our appointments didn't work out. We then saw the Andersons. Sister Andersons is a Service missionary talking pictures for the church. She has so many stories about missionary opportunities.

Saturday we spent the day in Smithville. We saw Josh and taught him the first lesson. He accepted a baptismal date for July 26th.  We also saw Stephanie and read the Book of Mormon with her. We had dinner with the Listers and had a meeting with him.

Sunday we didn't have any investigators make it to church but we did have President Hardy make it to our ward this week. This is the first week in months that president has been able to come to church since he has been in the hospital because of a fall.  He lost the use of his left arm and leg but is slowly getting it back.  Church was good. Sunday school was on prophets.  After church we did some tracting and talked to lots of nice people today they were all nice.  We had breakfast for dinner.

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

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

June 23, 2014

Dear Family and friends,

This was a great week!!  We had two people baptized in our ward. We were in Platte City almost every day.

Tuesday we had a great lesson with the Bueschers.  We taught them the rest of lesson 4, the Commandments.  Then the Zone leaders interviewed them for baptism. 

Wednesday we had district meeting it was about the new mission president that we are getting on the 28th.  We went on Exchanges and I went up to St Joe. Part of their area is my old area since they realigned the ward boundaries. It was great to be able to be there and be on exchanges.

Thursday we exchanged back and had weekly planning.  We then helped with the Relief Society Activity that was on Missionary work.  Sister Buescher came to that and loved that.

Friday Elder Goro went to the doctor. We then had dinner with an anesthesiologist. We did some tracting and found some people to teach.

Saturday was the baptism! It was a great baptism. We had a lot of missionaries there. There was also Brother Stopper, he served here in this ward over 2 years ago and then in the other mission, the Wichita mission, then when home a week ago. My companion gave a talk on baptism. Sister Gunter gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.

Sunday was Church.  The Bueschers got the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I was able to stand in that circle.  It was a great experience.  The spirit was real strong. We also got to help ordain Brother Buescher to the Aaronic Priesthood. I am grateful to have the opportunity to participate in teaching them and in them receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Thank you so much for all the letters.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

June 16, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Fathers Day !!

This was a great week. 

Monday we played some handball and wall ball with some of the Harrisonville Elder’s investigators. Elder Romney and I went to Brother Tracy in the ward and he cleaned our teeth.

On Tuesday we had some great lessons with Brother Oaklys.  It was great to have him there he boar testimony and it was awesome. We taught the 4th new member lesson to the         We also got transfer calls... Elder Romney got called to go to Liberty and I got called to go back to Platte City to the New Mark Ward.

Wednesday was a busy day.  We said good-bye to lots of people most to our investigators. The Bradfords and the Rlds family sent us with jerky to go.  It was hard to leave Raymore but not lots was happening there so they gave it to the other Elders to cover. We all had dinner with the Reeds. We then played volleyball. It was fun, the only interesting part was there was no net.

Thursday was transfers. We had a member take us there. My new companion is Elder Goro.  He has been out about 14 months. We are serving in the New Mark Ward. He has been her for 6 weeks. We live 10 minutes from the temple. We gave a church tour to a man name Tsos.  He is a friend of our ward mission leader and had been taught many times just has a daughter that has a problem with the church.

Friday we walked and made lots of phone calls. We saw an investigator named

Stephine. She is real nice. We shared with her “Because of Him”. We had dinner with the Bishop and his family.  It was awesome.

Saturday we road in the car with our president for many hours. We went to a baptism in Elder Goro’s last area. It was like two hours away in Chilechoche. It was great to be able to attend.  We also had Stake Conference. Elder Spakemen from Canada came down and spoke to us about how easy it is to share the gospel.

Sunday was also Stake Conference and Fathers Day, It was great to listen to our leaders and to be able to learn from them. They spoke on the importance of the temple and the 5 saving ordinances.

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

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

June 9, 2014

Dear Parents and Friend,

Sorry for this not being as long as some but we don't have as much time as most. We played handball just before, and are going to Brother Tracy’s in the ward to get our teeth clean. He is the dentist in Herrisonville.

Tuesday I went to the Doctor and then we did some service for a ward member. In the evening we taught Devi the 3rd new member lesson. It went awesome.  We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then went to Fasting and the purpose of it.

Wednesday we had district meeting. It was on the importance of the planning for the investigators and following those plans. For lunch we had authentic Mexican food, which was nice. The members try to make Mexican food but it isn't quite the same as back home.  After District Meeting we meet a couple of members that we have never met before. One was brother Kirk.  While we were there we gave him a blessing for an ear problem he had.  We saw the Bradfords and talk with them about the family proclamation to the world. We had Family Home Evening with the Reeds.  We shared the family mission plan with them and played volleyball for the activity.

Thursday we had our best planning session ever. Then we drove around trying people by none answered.  In the evening we went on exchanges with the Harisonville Elders. Elder Prax and I stayed up in Raymore.

Friday we had the same luck.   No one answered.  We visited with Brother Wolf in the ward.  He is old and has tons of stories to share with any one that will talk with him. We meet with Patrick and talked with him and it turns out that he is reading when he can but he is super busy. He was going to try to make it to church if he could. We had dinner with the Cahoons and after dinner they gave us a private firework show. He has a firework tent every year.

Saturday we gave out a couple Books of Mormons.

Sunday Elder Ronny and I gave talks in sacrament meeting. They were on President Ukdorf’s talk from Priesthood this last conference. The title was “Are you sleeping through the restoration?” I also talked about how they could help with missionary work. Brother Kirk came to church it was his first time in like 30 years. He even stayed for gospel principle class.

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

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

June 2, 2014

Dear Family and friends,

This was a great week. We did a lot of walking since we didn't have the car or the bikes.

Tuesday we did some service helping a member prepare to move. After dinner we went to some active families and shared the ward mission plan and the stake mission plan. We also help them create a family mission plan to work with the ward and stake mission plan. It is so much easier to do missionary work when you have a plan.

Wednesday we had the first district meeting this transfer. Our district leader is Elder Prax, he had a training on working with members. We did some tracting  and we handed out 3 Books of Mormon. Tracting in Raymore is just not effective the people don't come to their doors and are never home when we come back.

Thursday we had a conference call with part of the mission. President Keyes talked with us about the importance of the sacrament and why we take it every week.  We had weekly planning it went well. We were planning on helping the Thellens move but it got moved to Saturday so we tried to see lots of formers in the area book.

Friday we walked tons and talked to some nice people. One person we talked to brought us water out. Tim one of our investigators gave us a ride home after we talked with him and read with him from The Book of Mormon.

Saturday we had studies then we walked around finding some address so we could update the area book. We help move the Thellens move out of the ward. That was a fun service project.

Sunday we had meetings and Church. It was also Fast Sunday. There were two baby blessings that happen also. Church was good. We had a couple of part member families make it to church.  I had the opportunity to teach Sunday School, it was on repentance. In Elders Quorum we talked about family history.

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

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen