Elder Allen Week #18 Not sure if I should put the exciting and important stuff first, or put the filler stuff. Hmm. I'll go with exciting in case you just want to read what´s actually important haha. 

Familia Villegas is going to be baptized this Saturday! They´re literally so escogido (Chosen, but actually elect) They passed their Baptismal Interview the other day, and are very excited. The family is pretty big, but really we´ve just been teaching Hmna. Maribel y Hmna. Nygele. About 3 weeks ago we contacted Hmna Maribel on the street, and they´ve been so accepting and so willing to change. They´ve been passing through really hard times lately, not enough money to pay the electricity, Nygele with her 2 kids at 16. The dad only wants to recognize one of the kids, so he´s stopped helping out with the bills. Hmna Maribel is 55, is a poco mal de salud. She´s already a great grandmother if you can believe it. It´s been great to see them change and to use this healing power of the atonement in their lives. I´m excited to see the joy in their soul on Saturday.

That is if I´m here to see it, of course, there are transfers any day now. We´ll see where that takes me, but I hope that I stay here for another transfer or two. The people here are awesome, and we´re finally starting to see a bit of success. 

This week has been great though. We´ve been following along with the Light the World campaign, and this past week we shined the world. We got the zone together every day in different parts of Pachacutec, and shined shoes for free, and just serving people. There are a lot of people in this world that really have never been helped or served like this, and it´s awesome to see the smiles on people´s faces. 

And of course, day one of shine the world, someone literally stole my bible. I was talking to a guy, asked him if he wanted his shoes shined, he said yeah, I´m going to go buy something, but I´ll come right back. But first, do you have your bible? I just thought he was going to show me a scripture or something, but no, he just ran off with my bible. It was a little ugly, so esta bien, but it was so funny. 

Christmas is already here! I really can't believe that I´ve already been out here for like 4 months, it feels like so much shorter and so much longer. Already got my Christmas package, so thanks, family! 

I hope that everyone is in the right spirit back there, first of all in the cold and snow, but second, thinking about families and what´s really important. 

For the thought of the week, I would just like to press service a little bit more into your minds. You can keep all the commandments, read your scriptures, go to church, but if you never serve anyone it´s all for naught. The best way to get to know your savior is through helping others, because when ye are in the service of your fellow being, ye are only in the service of your God, and ye cannot know a master whom ye have not served. So do something good this week. Help someone out, give a hand. Smile at someone in the store. You know what to do, you feel the promptings. All good things are from God, so just do it. I promise your testimony will grow, and you´ll be happier. So light the world this Christmas. 

Hasta Luego! Elder Allen