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

Feb 23, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was a good week for us.

Monday was my birthday and we had snow here. It was real bad in the morning. There wasn't much for us to do when it was so bad outside.

Tuesday we had a meeting with Bro Snyder and we read the Chapter on how Nephi broke the Bow and what he had to do to fix the problem. We also had lunch with Brother Greenwall. He wanted to feed us but evenings are to busy for him. It was awesome to get his insight in how to help some of the people in Iola. We had our Bingo with the Old People. We also meet with Tina and Sister Wright, we brought Carl with us since the males we usually have couldn't come. It was a great experience for him.  We also had dinner with the Hannons. While we had our appointment with at Sister Wright’s there was tons of snow that just came in a short time.  We got transfers calls real late. Elder Hansen was to go to Flemming Park. I would get Elder Tolman.

Wednesday was packing and sick day.  Elder Hansen got all of his stuff pack.  I got a stomach flu so we weren't leaving the house much.  It wasn't fun.    We spent the night with the Zone leaders in Spring Hill.

Thursday was transfers. We drove all the way to Independence. Transfer meeting is a great time. We get to see all the Missionaries that we know and chat with them. I love going to transfers. I get to see all the missionaries and the office staff. We had a full load on our way back.  We had the Mound City Elder also with us. It was almost evening when we got back.  The funny thing is I already know Elder Tolman.  He was in the Platte City Ward when I was in New Mark. We even went on exchanges.

Friday we met a member that lives in Buffalo. She had just gotten bad news so I hope us stopping by was good for her. Shows her that the Church is still there for her. We had dinner with the Harts. It was their first time in years since they weren't active for a long time. They are loving being back in the Church.  We also meet with Mark, we read the intro with him.

Saturday we tried to find Percy but couldn't find him at home or with his friends. He just walks up to us when we were getting out of our car in the evening. We also read with all the non members and Investigators living in the Shaw’s place. We were able to tract since it was like 50's outside. No one wanted to speak with us, too busy doing things.

Sunday we had church and our meetings.  Sister Olsen (one of the Sisters) gave a talk on Charity.  We had Rj that came. It was great. We had a good evening. We did a little driving trying to see people in out skirting towns. Overall it was a good evening.

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

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

Feb, 16, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was a good week for us. This morning it was snowing. 

Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Mound City Elders again. I went with Elder Pickup to his area. On our way back we got a call from President Vest's phone. He called to let us know that Elder Pickup's Visa was in. Elder Pickup was excited to hear that. We did some tracting and walking on dirt road in the Golfing community. Not many people there were open to listen to us. We had dinner with the Senior couple. We had a great teaching appointment with a guy.  It was awesome since he had read and learned from what he did read. I got to testify that his answer would come. 

 

District Missionaries

Wednesday we had district meeting. It was about how our investigators need to come to church before they will progress.  We ate at the Mexican place again and the guy came out with all the plates of food on his one arm. I will try to get the picture from the other missionaries. We went out to Gas and La Harpe to see people. Most of them weren't home. We did stop by the Hoovers. They told us some stories back from when they had the missionaries living with them. We were able to help him with a couple of projects he had. In the Evening we stop by Scott's house. We help him and his dad finish some parts of the remodel they have done.  

Ward Missionaries

Thursday was great weather for some tracting. We were tracting down Main St. there was a lady that said to go talk to her husband in a shop on Main St. We didn't think much of the request to talk to him. We finished the street plus another. It was an hour before dinner and we remembering that we hadn't see him. We went by and he was expecting us, he gave us hot chocolate and we talked. He was nice but not to interested in our message. I'm glad that we went to the shop to talk with him. I wouldn't of like to not show up and leave a bad impression with him of the Missionaries. We had dinner with the Adairs. Brother Adair was able to find the house of his coworker. 

Friday we were able to read with our investigator Doug. We read the first chapter with him. We went to the Shaws in the request for a blessing. When we got there they were needing help with loading some furniture to take to a friend that had lost it all in a House Fire.  Our timing was perfect. I'm grateful for the Lord putting us in the path of others to help them. We had dinner with the Hannons. We had a steak dinner since it would be the last time with Elder Hansen if he leaves this transfer. We then Contacted the Referral form Brother Adair. His name is Charles and was super nice to us. We talked for a while on his porch. I'm great full for the members doing missionary work and their examples.  

Saturday we drove to Stark to see the Isoms. They weren't feeling well so we told them we would come back. We read the Book of Mormon with the Sister’s investigators. We also saw the Pass family and talked about the blessings for paying tithing. We also saw Joy Allen and RJ we talked about how the spirit teaches and instructs/ warns us. 

Sunday was good. We didn't have any plans or appointments but the day filled up.  Didn't have anyone come. :(  We did have an awesome talk by a High Council member. He talked about our spiritual foundation.  After Church we went to Bro Slaugh place. We went out to Stark to see Mr. Ford. Bro Slaugh is helping him with his family history. He wants to get it all recorded before he goes to the spirit world.  We read Alma 40 with him to try to bring more peace to him.  We had a great meet with Nate Mckinney. We talked about our spiritual foundations that we must have. For most of the Evening it was hailing and snowing. 

Thanks for all the letters and Happy Birthday wishes. I hope you have a great week. 

Love, 

Elder Benjamin Allen

Feb 9, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was another crazy week of weather.

Monday we spent the day in Paolla with the other missionaries in the Zone. We had dinner at McDonald. When I was about ready to pay, the Manger came up and asked if I would give the Guy behind me a hug. Turns out to be my companion. He gave us both free dinners for participating in the game.  We saw Joy Allen and our investigator Rj was there so we were able to go in and teach.

Tuesday we did some tracting. We meet a guy named Jerry. He is blind and real nice. We saw his brail copy of the Bible. It was 5 huge books.   We had our weekly bingo with the Old people. They were so funny with us being early. We also meet with Sister Wright and Tina. We read out of the Book of Mormon with them and it turns out what one of them needed that day.

Wednesday was bitterly cold. No one wanted to talk with us with it being so cold. We had planned to go up to Iola for the day.  When we started to leave for Iola the snow started to come down.  We made it there safe and meet with a couple of people.  We had dinner with our ward mission leader and his family.  We then saw the Edwards. They had gone down again to Oklahoma. They were shocked to see the snow.  They just had gotten a jeep and have crazy stories of what they have done.

Thursday we held weekly planning. It went good, most of our investigators are struggling to keep all their commitments.  We are running out of things to do to help them keep them. We went out with Brother Hart in the evening. He lives in a town that doesn't have many people. We went to the McGuires. She told us about her conversion story and we talked about how it has blessed their lives.  

Friday was Zone training. We had to wake up earlier to make it there on time.  It was focused on how to become smarter working missionaries. We also talked about how some of the people we find are interested in listening to us but aren't willing to keep their commitments. We need to focus on those prepared for baptism. After our drive back we meet with Mason. We watched even more Mormon messages with him.  We had dinner with the Stolls. They are very old but still up and going. They have tons of great advice. We meet with Mark and Michelle again taught them the restoration. It went good just he always had a story to tell after all the Questions we asked him.

Saturday we had a busy day. We meet with Carl and Kim.  Carl had broken a rib when he fell this week.  They are doing good though. We also taught the Pass families about the sealing power and the blessing of the Temple.  We also talk to these two ladies sitting on their porch. They weren't interested but had a couple questions about the Church. 

Sunday on our drive to Church our car began to shake real bad when going highway speeds. We had an awesome sacrament meeting.  We had speakers speak on the Sacrament and how to prepare for it.  They spoke the things that we wanted to teach some less actives but didn't know how to go about doing that. There was also Bishop's youth discussion after church. We were invited to attend, there was food plus the topic was education and goals/ dreams.  We meet with Nate McKenny and his wife. We were able to commit them to read the Book of Mormon,

Over all this week was good just still struggling to find investigators that will progress.  I hope you all have a great week.  Thanks for all the Support.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen

Feb 2, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Elder Hansen and I had a great week.

This week was a usual week for us. We did lots of finding, trying to get more people to teach.

We had bingo and the old people were excited to see us since they haven't done much with most of the patients being sick.

We had district meeting. The topic for this week was talking to everyone that we meet or pass and inviting them to learn more.  We did role-plays with us being at taco bell.  We went to El Charro a Mexican restaurant. The guy being our waiter brought out 6 plates of food on his left arm.  In the evening the ward had their pine wood derby race. It was fun to see some of the cars these boys made.

We saw Mr. Ford. He is our 91-year-old investigator. We watched the Restoration Video with Him.  He always has stories to tell us. He has tons of miniature Airplanes that he has built and flown. He lives in a town called Stark. There is only 3 active building in the town, two churches and a bank. There is like 10 people living in this tiny town.

We read with RJ this week. It was him plus the sister’s investigators. The Shaws weren't there so there were fewer things to distract. We read the tree of life with them. We are struggling with him to keep his commitments and be fully committed and engaged.

We were able to find Brother Akins home. He is supper nice and I believe he would come if his job allowed it. He gave us 4 referrals to see family and friends. While we were trying to find one of the referrals, we meet a man that had us come over. He had see us around before and been to Utah. He told us about all of his neighbors. I love it when someone knows his neighbors. Most people don't.

We went to a new restaurant called Nu-grill here in Chanute. We went with the Adairs. It was good, we recognized some of the cars and people they had on the walls. They went out with us to see the Hannons and to teach them the last new member lesson. It was great we were able to talk about temples and about eternal families.

We meet with Mark again. We just stop by and he and his wife were there plus a Friend. Mark had looked at the Book of Mormon and read part of it. We were able to answer his question. His friend also became an investigator when Mark was on the Phone. She has been through some rough times. She said she would be back over next week and would read the Book of Mormon.

We also saw the Pass family. We read with them out of Moroni 6 where is talks about church and the purpose. Satan is trying to keep them from coming by keeping them busy with tons of good things.

It rained almost all of Saturday and part of Sunday. When Church was about to start the rain turned into snow. By the end of the night it was 16. Sunday night was a rough night for us. The super bowl was on and it was freezing outside. 

I hope you all had a great super bowl Sunday. Thanks for the letters and the support. Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Benjamin Allen