April 28, 2014

Dear Family and Friends

This was a very interesting week.

On Tuesday we helped the Dinnings move Shanna's bed and stuff downstairs. She is staying with the Dinnings for even longer. After that we tried to see some of our investigators and members.

Wednesday we had district meeting. It was on the importance of the beginning moments of teaching. It was also about how the investigators know what our purpose is.  After District meeting we took the car to the shop to get the tire fixed.

Thursday we drove to Union Star. We tried to see lots of unknown members far out. We were able to meet some of them. We invited them to the ward party we are having this week.

Friday we went out to Fillmore we saw some people out there. We had dinner with Brook and her Family.  After that we watched the restoration video with them. They enjoyed it a lot.  We went to the hospital to give a blessing to a nonmember. She was real nice and knew lots of members here in this area.

Saturday we had a fireside, Andy Reid and his wife spoke to us and nonmembers and some important people from Kansas City and St Joe. He talked about his life and the influence of the church and how that affects his career. He also talked about football and coaching for the Chiefs. Before it started Elder Alexander and I help with parking.

 

Elder Allen

Elder Alexandar

Sunday we had one investigator at church. His name is Xavier.   He enjoyed church. Sacrament meeting was on the Aaronic priesthood and scouting and the importance of the programs the church has for young men.  We had dinner with the Farnsworths, the members we stay with. We had ham and potatoes. After dinner we gave Shanna a blessing, she is having problems with some of her teeth and wanted a blessing.

The Farnsworths 

Elder Alexander is leavening today to go to Brazil so I will be staying with the Elders in the second ward.

I hope you all have a great week

Love 

Elder Benjamin Allen

April 21, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a good week. The weather is warming up.

Monday was p-day we had dinner with the Hales. They are moving to Utah this summer. After dinner we went to Sister Stocket’s house. We help her drain her leaking pond and replace the liner in the bottom. That was fun but messy.

Tuesday we had lunch with the Embreys then a funeral for a member of the ward. We help serve the food for the dinner following it. We got feed after serving them. We saw Angelo and talk with him about receiving the Melchizedek priesthood. He wants to go to the temple some day. We also saw Debbie.

Wednesday we had district meeting It was on talking to everyone and the blessings of doing so.   We did some tracting trying to talk with everyone we saw. We found one new investigator and some potentials.  We tried to show everyone we got in with the movie “Because of Him”.  We saw the Burchetts and showed the movie “Because of Him.”

Thursday was weekly planning. We had an investigator drop us because his mom told him he should.  We saw lots of less actives active membersand we showed the Easter movie to them.   We had a member drop pizza off for us to eat.  We saw Wade and invited him to come to church.  He sent a Battery charger to go back to Bishop with us. We talk with Bishop and his family for a while about Easter and inviting their friends to come.

Friday we did more tracting.  Our appointments with a couple of people didn't work out. We talk with lots about Easter.

Saturday we did lots of driving. We went past Savannah to try to find some people. Did some work in Savannah. We meet with the Ryans and learned all about the Dirty Joe's Sewer. Bro Ryan work for the sewer plant and has lots of stories of things they find.  Had dinner with The Crumbs from second ward with all of the missionaries in St Joe. There were lots of family members there.  After dinner we went to the hospital. Bro Crawford wasn't there. He had gone home to Albany.

Sunday was Easter! Church was awesome all about Christ and the atonement. Shanna came to church. We are having a problem with her because her boyfriend doesn't want her to met with us or come to church. We had dinner with the Crumbs, Dinnings, Hurts and all the rest of the families. It was like a family reunion. We were able to meet with the Goodmans.  We showed the movie with them and talked about Burma.

Thanks for all the Easter candy and card. I hope you all are doing great.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

April 14, 2014

This week we have been in the car a lot. We have driven more than half of our miles for the month. 

Monday we spent the day in Platte City at the stake center with the other missionaries in the stake.

Tuesday we did some tracting and trying to see members and former investigators. We were able to find some that accepted a Book of Mormon. We did that till dinner, after dinner we drove to Platte City. We went to Platte City to stay the night with the elders there for zone conference in the morning.  Before we went in for the night we went with those Elders to teach one of their investigators that is single. I was able to bare my testimony about the church and General Conference.

Wednesday, Zone Conference! I enjoyed Zone Conference. We had it at the stake center next to the Temple. The topic was working the most effective. That is done 3 ways: 1) Our own efforts.  2) The Member’s referrals and Part Member Families. 3) Through the Area Book and ward roster.  We also need to be obedient so we can have the spirit with us. We also started exchanges after conference. Elder Taylor and I went together in our area.   We had dinner with the Dufrane Family.  After dinner we tried to see Chris he was just about to leave to go because some one had just died. We were able to meet with Xavir and taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon. 

Thursday was very busy.  We had an investigator named Calvin drop us because his mom told him not to meet with us again. We went up to a small town called Rosendale, the members up there were not home. We tracted but no one came to the doors to talk with us. We exchanged back in Rosendale. Elder Alexander and I went all the way back down to Kansas. Had dinner with a less active family in Wathena. Later in the evening we saw Brook and her Family. We talk with them about General Conference.

Friday it rained lots. We weren't able to talk with lots of people today.  We had dinner with the Weddles. The wife is a member but not the husband. We had a great conversation with him about the gospel. We meet with the Webbers in the ward and got to know then and talked about how we can help them with their son that isn't a member yet.

Saturday we had a pancake breakfast in the morning with all the other missionaries in the stake. We had 10 Baptism in March so the Stake Presidency wanted to celebrate that. We also went out to Savannah. We were able to teach Mary about the restoration. We got a referral from her to see a friend. We also saw some less active people in the area. 

Sunday we had lots of meetings. Church was great; Sacrament meeting was on repentance and forgiveness. None of our investigators made it to church. We had dinner with the Williams. They had a friend with them and we were able to share a message with him. We also explained to him about what we do and why. It was raining most of the day. I am grateful for a car to keep us dry.

We woke up today to find that it was snowing.

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

Love Elder Benjamin Allen

We do have 72 hour kits and we do know what to do when the w

April 7, 2014

This week was a hard week. We had conference and none of our investigators watched it. We are also having a problem with them keeping their appointments and commitments.

Monday we went over to the Dinnings and played games and ate food. After dinner we went to the hospital and gave Brother Crawford a blessing. He was going in for surgery to remove part of his other foot.

Tuesday we tried lots of people and none of them answered their doors. We did lots of tracting and found one new person to teach.  The zone leaders sent out a voice mail informing us that we were going to receive something special. They were trying to make it seem that we were getting I Pads. 

Wednesday we had Zone Training it was good. All about the Missionary's day and what we should be doing. We didn't get any I pads, just a joke.  (April Fools Day)  We went to Wathena and saw some less actives. We saw the Clouds and they are active just new to the ward. They sent us with Girl Scout cookies when we left.

Thursday we had a great appointment with Kevin. He is a new investigator that we tracted into the beginning of the week. We taught him about the Restoration. We did more tracting. Had dinner with the Hibbs at Golden Corral.

 

Foggy morning

Friday we got a call from president. He call to inform Elder Alexander that he got his visa and will be leaving the 29th.  We were finally able to meet Steven. He is a less active member that got a fended by someone and didn't ever come back. He was nice and his wife had some questions.

Saturday and Sunday we spent at the church. I had a great time listening to conference.  I enjoyed all the sessions. Sunday we had dinner at the Dinnings and Shanna didn’t really wanting to talk with us. Sister Dinning said that she is going to a different church. Shanna isn't even reading from the Book of Mormon. She would get her answer if she would read and pray.

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

Love,

Benjamin Allen

march 31, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This Last week was a great week.

Last Monday we went to the Glore Psychiatric Museum with the Sister missionaries. It was the old state hospital that also took care of people with mental problems. They showed the methods they used to try to cure people. It was interesting. They even had a morgue in the basement. We had dinner with the Balingits. They are from Philippines.   They had invited another family from the ward that are also from the Philippines.  We had some awesome food there. We were asked to come to the hospital and give a blessing. When we got there he was asleep so they asked us to come the next day. 

Glore Museum Morgue

Tuesday we tried to find some of the unknown members in the ward. This was done by trying lots of address that were given for the name that was goggled. We had dinner with the Kincades at Barbossas. It was some good Mexican food. We went to the hospital and it turns out that the father that wanted a blessing wasn't a member but his son was. We were able to talk with him and left them with a Book of Mormon to read. We also saw Brother Crawford from the Albany branch.

Wednesday we had district meeting with the District. We got a new district leader named Elder Taylor. The training was on the importance of making commitments with the investigators. We did lots of driving trying to see people far out. We had budgeted our miles for the month so good that it left us with 60 miles a day for this week. We had dinner with the Nielsons. He is the ward mission leader. We had a shrimp dish. I was given the task of deshelling the shrimp before we place them in the pot with everything else.

Thursday we had weekly planning and all of the other studies that we do every day. We did some tracting and talked with lots of people but didn't find many interested in meeting with us. We also tried lots of potentials that we tracted into earlier. We weren't able to meet with Chris he had something come up. We were able to meet with Brook and her Family. When we got there they informed us about all the tornados that happened that day. It was real windy but there weren’t any to close to us.

Friday we spent the day in Kansas. We had lunch at a gluten free place that members in the ward owns.  They make good gluten free food. We saw most of the members in the Kansas side of the ward.  We went out to Bob Evens for dinner. While we were there the manager came over and talk with us. It turns out that she is a member that just moved here from Independence. We went up to Savannah and saw the Rudels. We are trying to help them come back to church.

Saturday we did some biking for fun. I don't like all the hills that St Joe has.  We had Lunch with the Wykerts and went out to an all you can eat place.  The Zone leaders in the second ward call us wanting us to come light the water heater. They needed to fill the fount for a baptism that afternoon. We had  Brother Cochran light it for us.  After lunch we went over to see if they got it to work. It wasn't getting the water hot. We emptied the other water heaters in the building by filling a 5-gallon bucket and dumped it into the fount. The water was warm but not hot. We were having a hard time finding someone to go out with us that evening since the men had to baby-sit while the women went to the conference. We had a thought to call Robbie. He is working on preparing for a mission and was able to go out with us. We were grateful for the Spirit to give us the thought to call him. We were able to teach Shanna the Plan Of Salvation.

Sunday we had Fast Sunday and 5th Sunday together. We are now in the ward choir. They asked for all the missionaries in the ward to sing with the choir. We had choir practice before church. We had one investigator make it to church. We had bishop teach the 5th Sunday lesson. It was on keeping and making covenants. We had dinner with the Farnsworths. We tried to see some people just none were home. I think it was because of the nice weather.

I hope you are all doing great. I love you all 

Elder Benjamin Allen

March 24, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was transfer week. Elder Alexander and I are still together here in St Joe. We had a great week.

Shanna: We meet with her and the Dinnings this week. We talked about Baptism and about Jesus Christ.  We invited her to baptism and she said she would for the 12th of April.

NPC Zone

Chris: We meet with him on Wednesday night and resolved some of his concerns about the Book of Mormon. It was nice to have Bro Wykert with us so he could bare his testimony. He is going through some hard times and we were able to promise to him if he would read the Book of Mormon he would receive the peace he wants. 

Patrick: We found him this week while tracting. We came back the next day and taught him the first lesson.

Brook plus family: Thursday evening we went over and talk with them about the Book of Mormon. We went over the purpose of the book and where it came from. The Father (not a member) had lots of questions.

The Goodmans: We meet with them and talked about lots of stuff. Sister Goodman's husband is from Burma and is here for work. He can speak a little English but it is hard for him to understand it.

St Joe Missionaries

Church was good we just didn't have anyone show up for church. Elder Alexander taught Sunday school and the 1st Counselor from the stake came in to observe.  It was real small just us and the Nielsons and Gary. 

Today we woke up to find it to be snowing outside.

Thanks for the letters and the prayers.

Love 

Elder Benjamin Allen 

March 17, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a good week for us except for all the appointments that fell through.

Monday we meet with most of the missionaries in the stake and played games and had a fun time.  Brother Kincade in the ward gave us a referral. We went to go contact it and he wasn't interested but we found a couple of people around him that were. It is interesting how some times we are led to an area by a referral and find other people to teach. 

Tuesday the Embrey’s took the Sister and us missionaries out for lunch. We then did some tracting and tried to see some people.  Most of them were not home or just didn't answer. 

Wednesday we had District meeting.  It was on the importance of the Book of Mormon. After District meeting we went on exchanges with the District Leader plus his companion. I went with Elder McCurdy up to Maryville. Elder McCurdy is also from Arizona. We had a great day walking since the car went in for an oil change.  We meet with Herman Crumb and all of his brothers and sister.  They live in St Joe 1st ward.   We talk with lots of college students since they make up almost the whole town.

Thursday we had weekly planning. We tried to see people but no one was home. We went on team ups with Brother Tunks and while we were out we witnessed a car running into another. We visited with Sister Stocket and some other single sisters.

Friday we had a little better day we were able to find some more people that accepted a Book of Mormon and would be interested in meeting with us.

Saturday we worked in Savannah and had a great day with the sun out and with the weather in the 50's. We were able to meet with most of the members in Savannah. We handed out a couple of Books of Mormon.  It is a very small town we walked most of the day. We had dinner with the Vancillas and it was the first time eating with them.

Sunday we had two investigators that made it to church, Shanna and Debbie. Sacrament meeting was on the importance of daily Family and Individual prayer and Scripture study plus church attendance. After Church we had planned to teach Shanna but that didn't work. Brother Dinning was taken to the hospital. We went to give him a blessing and couldn't teach Shanna after since there was no male at the Dinning’s place and couldn't find one to go with us.  She is still reading from the Book of Mormon and coming to church. 

Thanks for everything that you all do for me. I hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen