Elder Allen Week#4&5
Elder Allen Week#4 Buenos Dias! 

It's crazy to me that I've already been out here a month! It feels so much longer, and so much shorter at the same time. This week was awesome! We've definitely got into a groove this past month, and not much new happens every day. It's just the same schedule- Wake up, get ready, eat, class, eat, class, eat, devotional/class, go to bed. It's not like its a bad schedule, it's just a little repetitive, and I'm ready for a change of pace. But I am going to miss my time here at the Mexico CCM. 

And here's the sad news of the week, four members of my district, my best friends, my family, are leaving on Monday. Nobody knows why, but yesterday we find a note on the door and Hma. Kim & Boyd, and Elders Nebecker & Phillips are heading out. We're pretty sure they're going to the Peru CCM for the week, but it's really sad. 4 of my favorite people are going to leave, and class is going to be so weird without them. It's going to be a long week. *Note for my friends soon to go on missions, get tight with your district, because they'll be some of your best friends for life. 

It is crazy that I'm already off to Peru in a week and a half. I feel so ready, and not ready at all. My Spanish has improved exponentially over the past month, but I still don't feel like I know enough. I'm really really good at saying what I know how to say and what I use a lot, but the grammar and the words I don't use often aren't really sticking with me. I'll get there though. I testify that the Gift of Tounges is real, because I took 2 and 1/2 years of Spanish, and didn't learn anything. And I'm a month into the CCM, and I'm a good enough speaker to get around. Long ways to improve though. 

My week was awesome, lots and lots of cool and spiritual experiences. We had our first TRC, which is where actual people come into the Arena (CCM) and we get to give them a short lesson. That was a lot of fun, I could actually understand what the lady was saying. My teaching skills have also greatly improved here, and Elder Humphreys and I give consistently good lessons, so that's awesome. 

The week honestly has just blended in together. On Sunday I was able to give Hma. Kim a blessing and everyone felt the spirit so strong, it was awesome. The new gym time activity is Volleyball, and every game I play I get better so that rocks. We played with the zone for like 2 hours this morning, it was tons of fun. I've officially been a part of my fist Tie Trade on the mission, got a sweet new floral tie from elder Tescher (He's the other District in our house, also going to Lima West, that district is tons of fun). Also, Go Cougs! Glad to hear that we started off on a good foot this season. Speaking of the Cougars, a guy in my zone, Elder Erickson has a full ride to play basketball at BYU, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of him on the court in a few years here.

As always, I could write books about all the Spiritual experiences of my week. But two of my favorites and ones that all of you can and should do are watch Elder Hollands Testimony: The Book of Mormon is the Word of God, and Elder Bednar's missionary address called the Character of Christ. The second one is a bit longer, but if you get a chance, please please please go watch it. He talks about how Christ turns outward when the rest of us turn inward, and that's how we need to strive to be in life. We can not afford to have our testimony planted in the good works of the church or the apostles. We can't have a testimony of these worldly things because when something in them changes, your testimony is tried. We all need to have a testimony, for ourselves, that Jesus is the Christ, He is our Savior and Redeemer. Once we know that, we will never fall away from the gospel of Christ. Build upon his rock. Elder Hollands testimony is just so powerful and reminds us of the truth of all these things. Please go watch those videos. I promise that they will help your testimony grow. 

Other than that, not much has gone on this week. I'm ready to get out into the real world. It started feeling real when we found out that some of us are already leaving. As a reminder, please keep sending emails and letters! I love hearing from you all! I miss you all at home so much, and I'm thankful for your prayers and words of encouragement, but if you really want to help, get involved in the work! Make a Mormon.org profile, talk to an inactive or a nonmember friend, invite them to church, invite them to come unto Christ. I promise if you do, your testimony will grow as well. 

Love you and Miss you all so much! Sorry, my photos haven't been sending, the computer comes up with a new problem every week. This week the files are "too large". Hopefully, I can get it to work down in Peru.

Also, just fyi, our district group email is called Los Toros de Los Pantanos in case anyone was interested haha. Hasta Luego!

-Elder Allen

Elder Allen Week #5
Buenos Dias! This is it, everybody! My last 4 Days at the MTC, and then I'm off to Peru! 

My time here at the Mexico CCM has been fantastic. I've met some of my best friends in my entire life, I get to see a beautiful sunrise every morning, I've been able to begin to learn Spanish, but most importantly I've come to grow closer to the Savior. I'm excited for my friends that will soon enter the MTC, but I wish you English speakers would have to stay in for 6 weeks instead of 3 because these 6 weeks have been fantastic. 

This week has been a lot of leaving to the field prep- tons of seminars and going over what we've already learned. But it's helped a lot. Got my flight plans, a 5-pound Spanish review book, a filter water bottle (now I have 2 haha). And most importantly, we got our colored dots!!! We're officially old! On Sunday night we said goodbye to the 4 that left early, and that was sad. Class is weird without them. But that's alright because we'll bee soon to follow. 

The days are starting to blend together, and I honestly don't remember most of the week. But as our teacher Hermano Galloso pointed out, it's important to stay excited about the work. The habits you make in the MTC will stick with you in the Field. But yeah, more volleyball, trying to take cabinets off the hinges, etc. 

Even though it hasn't necessarily been exciting, it has been a really spiritual week, and that's been awesome. We had Elder Pindrick (?) of the 70 come and speak to us, and that was really good. It was about using the Atonement in our lives, and how it can help us in all things. A girl had a comment about the symbolism of Olive Oil that I really liked. In Christ's time, everyone relied on olive oil for nearly everything, food, light, etc. But the process to make it involves putting the Olive under immense amounts of pressure. It's similar to Christ and His Atonement, because of that pain and suffering that Christ endured for us, we have a source of Light. I really liked that. 

I've started to read Jesus the Christ, and man is that book big. But it is awesome. There's so much insight, and it has already helped me strengthened my testimony on the Savior. I recommend. 

Yeah, there's not much more to write. Packing has been stressful, but I think it'll all work out. Next time I email, It'll be from Peru! I'm excited to get down there and to really start making a change, and bring people to our Savior and Redeemer. But I'm also thankful for my experiences at the CCM. And I'm looking forward to the challenges that are to come. I hope I'll have a baptism to write about in my next email haha. 

Love you all! Please keep sending Emails! When I get to Peru, I'll be able to print them out and read them! Stay Safe, and have a good week!

-Elder Allen