Oct 28, 2013

Dear Family And Friends,

This week was very good. We did have a baptism this week. David R. did get baptized by Elder Weatherford. We didn't have that many people show up for the baptism. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. On Sunday I was able to stand in the circle when David was confirmed a member and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a great experience.  Looking back now I didn't think that David would have made it this far, but it is because of the gospel and the Spirit working on him.

Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Keyes. We also had training by the district leaders. It went well.  I was the last one to be interviewed.  I also got the okay to drive.  We had dinner with Bishop and his family. It is great to be able to talk with Bishop about the ward.

Wednesday we had a lunch appointment with Steve. We meet at Jack Stack, all the way at the top of the ward in the other Elder’s area.  It was some very good BBQ. It was super nice that he paid for all of us. He is super busy so he wants to meet in the spring when he is less busy.  We then helped Bro. Hamm do some things around the house. We were trying to help him find a receipt since he can't look around for it.   We had dinner with the Biggs but before they feed us we had to move tons of tree debris to the road for pick up. While we were doing that Elder Weatherford stepped on two nails in a board that was in the pile.  We then had a great lesson with Sean. We taught him about Prophets.

  

Thursday and Friday we tried to see a lot of people, most of them canceled on us. We did get some new investigators from a referral that we got. We also found a lady that had meet with missionaries before and was ready to meet again. We got in with a less active member and his wife wants us to come back and answer some questions she has about the church. He wants to become active so he can go to the temple some day.

Saturday we had correlation with Bro Belliston.  While we were doing that we had the font filling.  It took 2 and a half hours to fill it. The building is super old and has a tiny water tank. It is almost like the old Lehi stake center. When Elder Weatherford baptized David, the wave was super big and it went into the bathrooms.  We then had the ward party. It was good.  We had a Chili cook off. There was lots of good Chili. We got lots of candy.  The members came up to us elders and gave us candy since they knew we couldn't go trick or treating.

Elder Weatherford, David and Elder Benjamin Allen

Sunday we had 4 investigators at church. The less active member and his wife and son came. This week was the primary program. It was funny to watch all the kids. This ward has a lot of young kids but not a lot of older kids.  Our dinner appointment canceled on us but they did give us a frozen lasagna to cook.  It took forever to cook it since she had just taken it out of the freezer.

This week was awesome. I am glad that we were able to have the baptism. We had a very busy week. I am thankful to be a missionary and to be able to serve in this mission. I am thankful for all the letters. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

Oct 21, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was good. We had lots of interesting things this last week. We had the car this week.

Monday was p-day.  We went to the stake center to play basketball and other sports.  We had Dinner with Sister Biggs and her daughter Sister Miller. They fed us Mexican food. It was awesome. Then we went up to Saint Luke’s hospital to give a blessing. We had a hard time finding the person since the Zone leaders didn't give us to much info from some other zone leaders that got it from some sisters in one of the zone. But we were able to find him and give him a blessing.

Tuesday we tried and saw lots of less actives and potential investigators in the bottom part of our ward. We meet with David R. and went over the baptismal Interview Questions with him.  I think he is ready for baptism. We are having President Heapworth interview him next Wednesday.

Wednesday we had Zone meeting and we learned that our zone is going to split and 2 other zones are also going to split this next transfer. We also learned that this mission is going to get more Sisters than Elders for the next 3 Transfers. There are already 265 missionaries counting the senior missionaries in this mission. We had a great dinner with a couple in the ward, the Ramirez family.  We then had a great lesson with Sean. We also had Logan with us.  He is one of the Priests in the ward. We taught him about prayer and personal revelation.

Thursday we had weekly planning, it went well then all of our appointments fell thought. We just didn't find any one home. The only person that we saw was David. We taught him more about Prophets and about the leaders of the church.

Friday It rained all day!  I am glad that we had the car. We were able to see Sister Biggs.   We taught her the first part of the first new member lesson. She also had us install a new door handle since she can’t with her broken arm.  We saw Marty again and talked forever about her job and her life. She works for a place that builds and fixes Electronic boards for airplanes. We had dinner with Sister Gay and Kay and Brother Bell. She made us spaghetti with home made meatballs and sauce. After dinner we taught Kay the Word of Wisdom. She took it great and said she would give up her coffee and tea.

Saturday we had correlation with Bro Belliston and one of the ward missionary, Nieene.  We then were able to meet with Donzell. He is still struggling with quitting smoking. We then had some of the appointments fall through. Brother Cunningham took us out that evening to see Bro Pervis. Bro Pervis is doing better. He looks better. He was excited to hear that David is ready to be baptized.

Sunday Church was good.  We were able to have 4 of our investigators come to church. The lessons were about our talents and how to use them. We had lunch with the Cunningham's. They made us waffles with all kinds of toppings. It was great. We saw David again and were able to figure out the program for his baptismal service this Saturday. He wanted Elder Weatherford to baptize him and for Elder Bitton to give a talk on baptism and for me to talk on the Holy Ghost.  He is ready to be baptized.   He has been inviting every one to it.  We were able to teach Monal and Ammitt.  They are from India. We taught them the restoration of the gospel. They had lots of questions and understood most of what we taught them.

This next week is going to be good. We have interviews with President Keyes on Tuesday. We have David's baptism on Saturday. I am exited to be able to talk at David's baptism. This week was great. Thanks for all of the letters.  I love you all.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

We had the fireside with Elder Ballard at the building next to the Temple and then it was broadcast to most of the stake centers in this area.  Elder Ballard didn’t shake anyone’s hands. He had us all stand and raise our hand and shake it in the air when he was shaking his hand.  Sky was there and when President Keyes and Elder Ballard and Elder Gay were leaving with their wives he ran around the building and was able to talk to them and President Keyes told them all about the things that he was going through. Elder Ballard gave him some advice and shook his hand.

 

Zone Conference - Oct 

October 14, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was good we had some great things happen to us this week. This week we had the bikes. We biked a lot this week.

On Tuesday we saw lots of less actives far out on the edge of our area. We took the bus out there and we got stopped since there was an accident that blocked all lanes going one direction. Most of the people we saw were not ready to come back. We did some tracking and talked to a lot of people. We did find someone that was ready to here about the gospel.

Wednesday we went to a different area and saw some less actives and investigators. One lady we saw was Sister Reed. She is real old and can't come to church because of her health. We talked to her about her mission and about her Experience of joining the Church. She has a great story. She also calls lots of less actives her age and talks to them weekly. We were able to meet with Sean and we taught him about Prophets and about the Law of Moses and why/how it was fulfilled. It was a great lesson.

Thursday we met with Mike and answered lots of his questions. He believes almost everything the church believes. He had lots of questions about things we don't teach people until after baptism. He liked the answers that we gave him. He is almost ready for baptism if he would come to church. We meet with David and he has decided that he is ready to pay tithing and is willing to follow the commandments. He is about ready to be baptized on the 26th.

Friday we had district meeting and Elder Weatherford taught us more about members being at our lessons and the importance of them. We had a great message or lesson with Bro. Hamm and Vickie. We went over why we need to continue to come to church and the blessings of the sacrament.  We had a great lesson with Kay at Sister Gay's house. We taught her about Jesus Christ and the importance of Him and about the church He set up. It was also great to hear Sister Gay's conversion story and the blessings she has seen from joining the church. Brother Bell was also there.  He just moved back into the ward and was so kind to give us a ride home with our bikes.

Saturday was a rough day, all of our appointments fell through. We help move the Heart’s out of the ward. This ward has a lot of people moving in and out. We didn't have much luck finding any one home.

Sunday was a better day than Saturday. Church was great, lots of good talks. David R. has had problems with his electric wheel chair so he walked to church. He didn't want to miss church. After Church we meet with Yandira. Brother Hails came with us since Yandira is learning English and speaks Spanish. We meet at the church and gave her a Church tour and she asked lots of great questions. I think that it went real well. I know that every one felt the spirit. After that we drove to Liberty to attend a fireside with our investigator Kay and Sister Gay. The Fireside was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberty Jail. Elder Ballard and Brother Gray of the 70's came to speak. President Keyes was the first speaker and spoke about his experiences of being a missionary and Mission President in this Area.  Brother Gray talked to us about Joseph Smith and what and why he had to go to Liberty Jail. Then Elder Ballard spoke, he talked about the changing world and about what we need to do to stay on the path back to Heavenly Father. He also spoke on the importance of the Temple, which was right outside. It was awesome to be able to hear and see him. It was cool to be able to see the Temple all lit up at night. I am glad that we were able to attend it.

 

Kansas City Missouri Temple

I am doing great here on my mission. Thanks for the letters.  I Love you all and miss you.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

October 7, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I had a great week, last week. Last week we had transfers and I am staying in KC1st with Elder Weatherford. Elder Weatherford hasn't got his visa yet. Elder Cortez left to go to the Independence Stake. Elder Bitton got a new companion named Elder N. Smith.  He came out with Elder Cortez. He is from Utah.

The weather here has been getting cold, it has been like 70's in the day and 40's at nighttime. We had the car this week. We had the opportunity to visit lots people this week with the use of the car. We saw...

Sister Biggs, she is a recent convert that moved into the ward just before I got here. She broke her arm this week.  We saw her on Thursday and while we were there she had an outlet and light not working. I was able to fix them for her.   It was real easy to fix.

We saw Brother Pervice, he is doing better, and he is now in a rehab place. He is getting his strength back and is looking tons better. They will not allow him to come to church, which is sad.

David R. is doing great. He is now ready to pay tithing and is doing great not smoking and drinking.  He wants to be baptized this month. He has a baptismal date for the 26th. He was able to watch 3 of the sessions.  He loved being able to see the prophet and the apostles  

Labrenda is moving this week. She is moving to Colorado.  We couldn't meet with her much since she is busy trying to finish everything to be able to move.

We meet with Kay at Sister Gay's house. We taught her about the plan of salvation. She wants to be baptized too and has a baptismal date for November 9th. 

On Tuesday we had some strong winds and a big branch fell onto Sister Gay's house and neighbor's house. We went over to help her and it took us 4 elders and her using the chain saw  hours to get it moved.

On Sunday night we had the opportunity to Give Kara a blessing. She has limes disease and is on a very hard diet to try to get ride of it.

We were able to watch all 5 sessions at our ward building.  We had 3 of our investigators come to the church to watch it with us. On Sunday we had a potluck in between the sections. I loved all of the talks. There were lots of talks that talked about following the Lord’s laws and standards.

This week was great and learned a lot. I love this area and glade that I can stay here for another transfer. I love the people here and the ward is great. I miss all of you but I am having a great time here, I love you all.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

Sept. 30, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I am still doing well here in Kansas City.  This week has been an interesting week.

Monday was p-day and we went shopping and went to A& W for lunch. We played basketball and volleyball this week. We had dinner with the Hansens and had home made pizza.

Tuesday we had Zone conference at our stake center. We had car inspections and our car got 3rd place and the sister's cars got 1st and 2nd. We got new books to go along with Preach my Gospel, which are to help us with the stress of a mission. We learned that the APs, all 3 of them are leaving this week. We got to listen to President and Sister Keyes. They told us that we will now need shoulder bags and not backpacks. We can now wear more colors of pants and suits. We also got to speak with president Goodson, the Stake president. We talked about what the ward and stake could do to help us missionaries. It was a great Zone conference. After that Elder Weatherford and I went on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Stevens to their area. We had dinner at Olive Garden with the ward mission leader and a young man leaving on his mission this week. He is going to the Scottsdale Arizona Mission.  The Ward Mission leader is a great man.  He is a convert to the church and has only been a member for 2 years. He has an interesting conversion story.

Wednesday, Elder Stevens and I saw lots of people.   We taught a new member lesson to Maria. We had a team up named David, he went on team ups with us the last time I was on exchanges with Elder Rudd.   We had dinner with the Olsens and learned that he works for P&G. He gave us some little handouts from them. We had an appointment with Donzell S. and he canceled.  Then we figured out that Sean was planning on meeting with us. We didn't know that he was planning to meet with us at that time but it did work out. We went with Bro. Belliston to see some people and no one was home or didn’t want to talk with us.

Thursday, We got to go to the Temple this morning. Bro Cunningham drove us there. It was 5 men in his little old car. His car was made in the 1994. We did make it there. We did the 9am session and after that when we were about to leave I ran into Brother Homewood the member that Andrew (Elder Allen) is staying with. We talked for a while and asked him questions and he told me that Andrew was doing great and being a good missionary. I am grateful that we have a Temple so close and can now attend it 4 times a year. After the Temple we biked a lot and try to see people that were not there. Before we got dinner we had do some service for Gail and Sister Pitt. We cut their grass and cleaned up the yard. They feed us lasagna and garlic bread and Ice cream.

Friday, We meet with Brother Hamm, we sweep his floor and shared him a message. We did a lot of biking and riding of the bus. We had dinner with the Mcreas they own like 5 houses around each other.  We had dinner at the old house that Bro Pollitt used to live at. After dinner we taught Kay (Bro Hamm's Ex wife) at Sister Gays place. She had lots of great Questions and knows lots about the church already. 

Saturday, we saw lots of people. It rained all morning we had lots of rain. We had dinner with Wazzer. She made us Nigeria food. It was awesome food. Bishop took us to see Donzell W. He is doing great still trying to quit to smoking.  We also saw Melvee she lives in the same place as Donzell.

Sunday, We had 5 people at church. It was fast Sunday since next week is general conference. We have been told that we can watch all 5 sessions in our ward building. We heard lots of interesting testimonies. Sister Wiemer stood up and told us how glad she was to have us missionaries working with her son Tonny to get him to come back to church.   We had dinner with the Cunninghams. They feed us Quinoa and beans with cheese and other toppings. It was good. We also had gluten free Brownies, which were good. We tried to see Mike but he wasn't home and we bike around to see some other people.

The suit I was wearing in the picture from the last district meeting was one I found in the apartment from an Elder before me. I might keep it since it fits well.  This week was good. A little slow since we had to bike everywhere. We did get to see lots of people. The weather has been nice and I think that I have seen more rain this week than in the last 3 years.  This Area is great we have lots of work to do here. We have stayed busy and the members are very helpful.  I am having a great time here on my mission. Thank you for the letters and prayers.  I love you all and miss you lots.

Love Elder Benjamin Allen.

Sept 23, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I am doing great here and had an awesome week.  We were busy and saw lots of people. We had lots come to church.

Tuesday we had a great appointment with David. We went over the priesthood and about how we could track the priesthood line of authority back to Joseph Smith. I was able to pull out my line of Authority and show him that. We saw Dewey again. We told him that he needs to quit smoking or lessen the number times he smokes and start to stop drinking tea and coffee. We told him that if he didn't start we couldn't come back over. He dropped us that night because he didn't ever want to stop smoking and drinking his tea and coffee.  We had dinner with Sister Shaw that is a less active member. Most of her kids and Grandkids still live in the ward. It was some great food that she fed us.

Wednesday, We saw Donzell W. , Bishop says he can be re baptized in 3 months if he quits smoking this month. We talked to him about grace and about the atonement of Jesus Christ.  After that Sky picked us up and took Labrenda and us to the Visitor Center. It was awesome, we all felt the spirit. We went though God’s plan for Families. She wants to be baptized before she moves. She has a baptismal date for the 12th of October. After that Sky took us out to eat since we didn't have any one for dinner.  Sky is such a big help to us. I am glad that he is in the ward. After dinner we saw lots of less actives members.  One family that we stopped by was the Allens. They are 2 brothers and a sister living in a house in the ward. We meet David, one of the Allens. We got to know him and learned that he served a mission. He wants to come to church but can't because of work. He has a younger brother serving a mission in the Wichita mission.

Thursday We met with Dewey again. He was taking to some sister in the v.c in Hawaii and decided he wants to be baptized. We told him that he must start to Quit and come to church or we couldn't come over. We had dinner with the Scotts at the church building, during dinner it started to rain lots. It was raining very hard when we need to get to the car.  Elder Weatherford and I ran to the car and got soaked with water. We did make it to our appointment with the Roths, and we taught Buddy the last lesson so he can meet with Bishop and be baptized. 

Friday We had district meeting. We were taught some more about the atonement of Christ. Elder Deyer made some trifle so we had that for lunch. I know that that wasn’t the best to have for lunch. We went to Brother Hamm house to do some service for him since he is blind. We swept his floor. We saw David R. and taught him more about the Godhead.  We had dinner with Sister Biggs and her family.

Saturday we gave Donzell a blessing after teaching him a lesson. We also got a new investigator from a lady in his building. We also gave her a blessing. We saw some more less actives and lots of potentials. We got to have a meeting with our new ward mission leader. It is nice having a ward mission leader that wants to know what we are doing and wants a report every night.

Sunday we had Brother Lively help us pick up Dewey so he could come to church. It was fun having to sign him out of the Rehab center and get him in the car since he is in a wheel chair. We got him to church and counted and had 8 investigators at church. We had the most out of the whole mission. This week I learned that Andy Read the coach for the Chief’s team lives in our ward and come when he can. We saw Mike and he is doing great and we answered some of his questions and left him pages to read to answer other questions.

This week was a great week. It rained lots here and had lots of days with nice weather.  We had lots of appointments and saw lots of people.  I am doing great here. I am having a blast serving my mission. I know that this is where I should be. I miss you all and love you lots.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

Sept 16, 2013

Dear Family and Friends

This week has been great. The weather has been nice. It has rained some and a couple days it has been under 80.  We got a new ward mission leader. Bro Belliston is our new ward mission leader.  Thank you for all of the letters that have been written to me. I enjoy getting them and reading them and writing back. Thanks mom for the package.  I got it Saturday.

Tuesday the other Elders went to Exchanges with the APs. Elder Weatherford and I went to the library to take care of things so I can drive. We watched a driving safety movie and took some tests. I can hopefully drive after I pass off Lesson 5 to the Zone leaders. We had dinner with the Bellistons and learned that he was going to be call as our ward mission leader.  After dinner we helped Bro Overfelt move some stuff to his house so Sky can live with them.

Wednesday we had Zone training. It was great. I learned lots of things.  It was a very long one it lasted until about 1pm. After that we went and biked lots to get to the bottom of our area to try some Referrals that we had gotten. One of the referrals was a Lady from India named Mona that went to the Visitor Center a couple of days ago. Her English was very good. We are planning to see her this week. We had dinner with Bro Gray. After dinner Bro Gray drove us to the church to meet with Sean. That lesson went ok it is very hard to teach him because he hasn't had any spiritual experiences.  We invited him to read Alma 32.  I hope he will read that.

Thursday we were finally able to meet with Labrenda. Sky took us there. She was so happy to see baby Joseph. We learned that she is going through a divorce so that is why it is so hard to see her. We also learned that she is moving to Colorado next month. We also saw Mike, he is a investigator that we tracked into last week. He is very smart. We talked about Plan of salvation. He has lots of questions about our church. He is building himself a Man cave outside that is 8 by 8 by 6 made out of wood and metal.

Friday we saw some less actives in the ward. We had Lela drop us again for the 4th time this week. I don't think she really wants us to come and teach her. We had dinner with the Simntons.  She made Ranch Chicken with garlic bread and green beans and sweet potato pie. She made tons.  Lots to eat.  After dinner we went to see Dewey because he called us the night before wanting to be baptized. We came over and he didn't want to be baptized any more but want us still to come over. I don't know if it is worth our time to meet with him. He is not keeping his commitments.

Saturday was Exchanges with the other elders in the ward. I went with Elder Bitton in his area. We had a very busy day. We taught some lessons and saw lots of unknowns on bishop’s list. We taught a lady that calls her self Mother Brown. She was very interested in the stuff we had to share with her. Elder Cortez and Elder Weatherford had 2 dinners, one with Tony and his mom. He is less active member because he drives trucks usually on Sunday. They had a appointment with him at 4 and didn't know he was planning to feed them. We had dinner with Gail and sister Pitt. It was good we had cheesecake pie and Rhubarb pie with strawberries, which was awesome

Sunday we went to Tony’s so Elder Cortez could give him a suit that didn't fit him anymore so he could come to church. He came to church for the first time in 13 years with his Mom. He can now come every other Sunday because of his new route. Church was good.

After Church, Sky took Sarah and us to the Visitor Center. He can't talk and drive and he got lost getting there. When we did get there we went and saw God's plan for families. It was just what Sarah needed and also what Sky need because of the loss of his wife. After that we sat in front of the statue of Christ and listen to a narration, then 7 of the sisters there sang “I Know that my Redeemer lives”. It was very powerful. I felt the spirit very strong and they all felt the spirit also.  While we were there Sean and his friend Elisabeth were also at the Visitor Center.  Sister Moon took them around and showed them the movie about Joseph Smith. I hope that helped him feel the spirit.

I am doing great here. I am loving the area. There are lots of hills that we have to bike up and down. We get the car this week. The people here are awesome. I have met some cool people.  I am learning lots here. I am getting better at teaching and recognizing the promptings of the spirit. I miss all of you lots.

Love

Elder Benjamin Allen

Sept 2013 Zone