Elder Allen Week #22 Feliz Año Nuevo! Another week and another year! Time keeps moving incredibly fast, and somehow so much and so little has changed. The week was good, tranquillo. 

The important and big news of the week was we had another Baptism! A 19 yr old named Rosalinda. The missionaries found her like a year ago, but she wasn't ready then. When we started teaching her, she was ready and excited! She was baptized after the meetings on Sunday, so she'll be confirmed this Sunday. She's planning on moving to Spain, and then being a missionary, so that's pretty great! The baptism was combined with a baptism of the other Elders, and it was interesting, to say the least. They had an 87-year-old unloved evangelical grandmother, who still doesn't understand she can't sing random evangelical songs during church. It was very funny. 

I used a scale for the first time here in Peru, and I lost 20 pounds, so that's pretty crazy. I'm not complaining. 

At 6:30 in the morning the other day (We sleep until 6:59) we get a call from a branch member, saying that their father-in-law wants us to come over and teach him right now. So we change fast and get over there, and give the earliest lesson I've ever given in my life. He's an alcoholic that wants to change his life. It was one of the first times that I've felt the immediate affect this gospel can have in the life of someone. It was early, but awesome. 

If you're looking for some deep church doctrine to read, I recommend the King Follet Sermon. It's pretty legit stuff. 

After a long day of walking and working, we get back to the house at 10:30, do our daily numbers, and I take off my shoes. I look inside one and find a rusty nail. That I had been walking with for the whole day. We do that a lot of times. We keep our problems with us when it would be so much better to just let them go. To repent, to change, and to feel better. Maybe you don't feel the nail against your foot right now, but eventually, it's going to cut you. Never procrastinate your repentance. 

Thanks for everything! ...I forgot my camera this week, but next week sorry!...

Elder Allen

Elder Allen Week #20 & #21 Que tal todos! Yeah, not much really happened this week, but a Merry Christmas to all!

After 3 months in the field we had our 2nd training meeting, which is supposed to be around month 1, so that's fun. It was combined with the group behind me, so that rocked. (Thought I got rid of Elder Litster dang it haha) The message I liked the most from it was about Ether 2:23

When Ether is commanded to build the boat, he does so willingly but runs into some problems. One of which being there is no light. He asks the Lord what he should do, and the Lord responds with this- And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.  No Windows, and no Fire. These are the obvious solutions, right? That's where we get light from. 

A lot of the time, this is how we ask for help or blessings. We look for the easiest way possible to get what we want, in the way that requires the least. But the Lord doesn't want that from us. He wants us to have a 16 stone plan. To have an idea, and work on it. Get everything worked out, and then pray for the finger of the Lord. If we have this 16 stone plan, the blessings will come. 

The Lord could give us windows and fire, but it's only when we have the 16 stone plan that we see the finger of the Lord. Only then our testimony grows. Only then we see the miracles working in our life. Stop looking for the easy way out, and get to work. The Lord will make up the rest. 

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Christmas in Peru Rocks! It's definitely different from home, but the spirit is still here. And they still have hot chocolate, even though its super hot. (And its a lot better here, its made with real chocolate). Our branch Christmas party was a blast, and everyone paints their house here for Christmas. It's a lot of fun. But it still feels like July, so that's weird. 

I forgot to mention, In the newest group of missionaries, there's a new Hermana, Hermana Allen. But wait- She's from Ecuador. How weird is that? Haha. 

And lastly, today I made the hardest decision of my life. I had to go against everything I have ever stood for. After 3 months in this country, Today I found the first American Football that I have seen. It was at a local second-hand market, for about 1 dollar. But you'll never guess what team it's for. The freaking utes. Who finds a utes football in Lima Peru. I bought it anyway because I want to play some real football haha. 

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John 3: 16-17-For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

This is most definitely one of my favorite scriptures. God sent his son because he loves us, and his son, Jesus the Christ, saved us all. He is the star that shines in the darkness. He is the life and the light of the world. From the silent night, He was born until the night He suffered, bled, and died for us. He is the greatest gift we will ever receive. Through him, we are redeemed, forgiven, and saved. Christmas will always be my favorite day, not for the presents, but a day to remember Him. What gift will you give to Christ this Christmas? 

Feliz Navidad! Happy Holidays! With love, Elder Allen. 

Week #21

Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo!!

Needless to say, Christmas is completely different here. But it was awesome. A new experience. They celebrate Christmas more on the 24th than on the 25th, so we had a Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. Chicken, like always, but it was good. Instead of a silent night, Christmas Eve in Peru is one of the loudest and coolest nights of the year. The fireworks are incredible. In every direction you look, fireworks light the sky. And they just keep going. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. The silent morning exists though. We got up at 6:59 like normal, and walked outside. The quietest street I have ever seen in this country. It was awesome. Called the family, that was weird but good. All in all, It was a Christmas that I'm always going to remember. 

The rest of the week was tranquilo. Not much happened. We had work splits for the day, and I got to hang out with Elder Barreto, a Brazillian in his 1st transfer. It was fun to take the lead for once, and we got a lot of work done. One of the people that we contacted we taught all of lesson 1 to, invited him to be baptized, got to explaining the Book of Mormon, he says that he already has one and that he's already a member. Wow. Thanks for telling us that when we shook your hand. Hahaha, it was pretty funny though. There's a ton of inactive members here. It's crazy. 

We should have a baptism this Sunday, a joven (youth) named Rosalinda. She had all the lessons about a year ago but didn't feel ready. But she's so excited to be baptized now. She's changed a ton these past weeks. Hopefully, all will work out good and tranquilo. 

With all the new changes in church this upcoming year, I'd like to share how strongly I care about the opportunity to go to church. I feel like once a week isn't enough sometimes haha. A day to just sit down, to be with our families, and more than anything, to remember our Savior and take the Sacrament. And now the chance to study the gospel with the family and in the home is incredible. In the Bible Dictionary definition of Temples, it says- Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness. All of you that are at home, with your families, make the best about this new revelation from God and learn to love church even more. 

Happy new years! 

Elder Allen

Elder Allen Week# 19 Man, it was a crazy week!

First of all...I had my first Baptism! Maribel y Nellele Villegas were baptized on Saturday, and I had the opportunity to baptize Hmna. Nellele. It was awesome, and awesome to see how much their lives have already changed. That being said, that day was so stressful and crazy. We go to fill the font, and it fills about 9 inches, and the water stops. Apparently, the church's tank was empty, and the city's water shuts off at about 5 every day, so that wasn't good. We tried figuring out a solution, and eventually just decided to have the opening part of the baptism service in Mi Peru, then drove to a chapel about 15 minutes away, to perform the baptism, and then came back for the rest of the service with all the members that couldn't go to the actual baptism. It was crazy. But it worked! It was a day I'll never forget, that's for sure. 

We had transfers this past week! And drumroll, please..... Nothing Changed! I'm still here with Elder Viera.  Elder Alegre and Elder Jones are still in the district. This is my comp's last transfer, and he's off to Uruguay, so in mission terms, I'm killing my father haha. But wait-- After lots of praying and some fortunate circumstances, there are two more Elders in the Rama!! President Stauffer split our area in half, and Elder Prince and Elder Barreto are now in the Pachacutec area that Elder Viera and I have literally never worked. It's huge though, and now our area is possibly the smallest in the mission. A lot of work to get done though, so it's all good! The new Elders are awesome, Elder Prince only has one transfer more than me, and he's training Elder Barreto de Brazil. He's a recent convert as of 3 years, and he's got a ton of fire for the work. They're good missionaries, it's been fun to have a little change this week. 

The week has been good, there haven't been too many other significant events. We had a Nephite come visit us for 2 days (A latino missionary that extends for 3 weeks that has a special assignment from presidente), So that was fun. He is Elder Chavez, a legend de la mission. About 3 people here have told me that I look like Luis Miguel, some random Mexican 80's singer, so that's pretty fun I guess.

The last big event of the week was the Christmas Party yesterday! It was a ton of fun, cool to see everyone again. Elder Litster and my group from the CCM. Had some great food, and just relaxed a little bit. But it came on one condition de presidente, that we get to work after. The mission has got a lot of work to do, over half the mission has less than 6 months, and the lack of faith is showing. But it's all good! We're getting there! 

The spiritual thought of the week has definitely got to be on Charity. I've been studying Christlike Attributes in PMG lately, and Charity and Love are definitely one of the most interesting. I've only got my Spanish scriptures on me, so I can't type it, but go read Moroni 7 45-48. Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it's something that we all need, and we all need to give in this life. So this Christmas season, think about what more you can do for someone else, what sacrifices you can make to make someone a little bit happier. It'll be more of a blessing than a burden for you. Always follow your first impression to help someone, it's always from God. 

Thanks for everything! That's all for this week folks! Lo Amo!

Elder Allen

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

Elder Allen Week#17 Yeah, first of all, sorry that nothing much changes in these emails. The life of a missionary isn't super exciting. I mean it is, but it's the same exciting things every day. And I feel like I'm running out of things to write about. But yeah, It's been a good week!

First things first, was Monday night. It was crazy. We started a Visita Trabajo after emailing, and at 730 we get a call that Elder Jones and I need to be at the offices at 10, so Elder Alegre and I called the other Elders, but their phone wasn't working. Somehow, by the mercy of God and an answer to a prayer, we found them contacting a guy about an hour of looking. Elder Jones quickly got his stuff together, and we called a member with a car and asked if he could drive us. He could, but he didn't know where it was. So we looked it up on his poor quality phone, but the phone died halfway through the drive. So we got off on the wrong exit, and drove around Los Olivos for 30 minutes, asking random people on the side of the road where to go. We got there eventually, but it sure was an adventure. 

And as always, there's a lesson in that. Keep your phones on. Don't let Satan distract you and get you off guard, lost. Be ready to receive this revelation from God, and to go where he asks you to go. Don't lose your Liahona. 

We had to go to Lima to get our Visas, but hey, I'm legal now! So that was a fun and crazy trip. 

More updates on Family Villegas, they are really and truly elect. They're so ready for the gospel. Excited for their baptism, always keeping their commitments and ready to come to church. For December, we have a Family Night every day, and they even called and asked if they could do one! So we have a family night with our investigators, who are going to bring more non-members! They really are great, pray that all will keep going well for them. 

We had Zone Conference this week, and that was really good. But the most exciting part was I finally saw Elder Litster! It was good to catch up with him and see how he's doing. Weird to feel two worlds collide. 

We've been finding some really good people lately, one is Familia Abarca. They live in the same block as the church, but surprisingly have never talked with the missionaries! They're really receptive to the message, And I think they're going to progress as well. 

I also did one thing that you never should do here in Peru- Tell the lady that feeds you that you're switching back to your old pensionista- haha. Peruvians really like their food. It's all good though. And are you ready for a funny story- Elder Jones and I were on splits for an hour or two, and to start proselyting we say a prayer, ask for guidance where we should go and who to talk to. And the first door we knock, a guy answers and says the sisters are here, but we could come back in ten minutes. So we were like yeah! Cool! Two newish gringos are about to teach a lesson. So we come back and knock on the door, and the man says that the sisters are still here. The first time around, we thought he meant his sisters. But we look in the house, and sitting there on the couch with their "Bible" open is two Jehovah's Witnesses with a death glare on their face. We said we'll come back another day, and died laughing when the door shut. Pretty crazy. 

One of the things that we learned at zone conference was taught by Hermana Stauffer- and she asked us three questions. Where is your heart? What is your Treasure? Is your mission (for you it could be the gospel) your great treasure? And these really hit me. It's like the scripture, where your heart is, your treasure will be also. If your heart isn't in this gospel, your treasure isn't either. Make sure you have your priorities right, and just live what you know. The simple things. Reading, praying, going to church. Do what you need to do to grow that seed, to change the desire of your heart. And the rest will come easy. 

Thanks for all the prayers and for the words of encouragement! 

Elder Allen

Elder Allen Week#16 Hola! 

It's been a good week, this email will probably be a bit short, not much has changed since last week. On Tuesday Elder Jones and I had a visita de trabajo, which meant two relatively new gringo missionaries spending the whole day together, it was pretty crazy, but we got some good work done. We're about to finish our 12 weeks of training, and it's pretty crazy how fast the time has gone. 

Familia Nieto keeps having problems, so no new updates on them really. But on the bright side, we found another really great family of three! Familia Villegas, they came to church yesterday, and have been keeping their commitments. I contacted Hmna Maribell on the street with my favorite manera, cual es su favorito plato. So that was fun. Her daughter is 16 and has two kids, so that's pretty crazy. They're ready for a change in their lives, so I think they'll do well these next couple of weeks. 

We somehow had 8 of the people that we are teaching come to church, which is crazy. Especially because church is at 830 in the morning haha. We haven't seen much success in the way of Baptisms and Confirmations, but we've been doing well otherwise. As long as you are obedient and work hard, the blessings will come. Not in your time, but they will come.

This week we watched a video a couple of times with the people we are teaching, and it's one of my favorite video's/ talks of the church. It's the Music of the Gospel, by Wilford W. Anderson, and it's all of your homework to go find and read it or watch the video. I think for a lot of people, especially the youth of Utah, we tend to dance without the music. And that's a hard thing to do. So go read the talk, and ponder it. Think about what you need to change to hear the music. A question that relates to that pretty well, is are you living the Gospel because its good, or because it's true. Any reason to live the gospel is good, but it's so much more real, and so much easier when you realize that this is all true. 

But yeah, that's basically it for the week. Sorry, it's a bit short, hopefully, something exciting will happen next week we'll see haha. Love you all! Thanks for the prayers! 

Elder Allen

Elder Allen Week#15 Que tal todos? Yo espero de ustedes tuven una bueno semana! It was a great week! I learned a ton, and It´s already really helped me to be a better person and a better missionary. First of all, Tuesday was one of the craziest days of the mission. We had Divisionones with the Zone Leaders, so I was up in Pachacutec with Elder Quispe for the day. It was good, and the plan was to meet up and Elder Viera and I head back down to Mi Peru that night, but they got here super late, and we ended up having sleepover round #2. It was crazy, but it was fun.  What I learned that day has helped me a ton this week. Attitude. Choose to be happy. Choose to see all the blessings that you have. The gospel can't make you be happy, you have to let it make you be happy. And that change has helped my mindset about basically everything. So if you're not happy now, change something. I know from personal experience that it works. The other thing that I learned was that our Church leaders are literally called by God, and we should follow them without hesitation. Whether it's your deacons quorum president, the bishop, your dad, or the prophet, they have been called to help and direct you.  We can work until 10:30 every day now, so that's crazy. I think that one of the sacrifices the Lord wants me to make is sleep, so that´s rough, but at least it´s not anything too hard for now.  And now we are back to Familia Nieto. It was a rough and crazy week. And they didn't end up getting baptized. Tomorrow though. We´re shooting for tomorrow. There were some difficulties with the kids' father and some poor circumstances, and it just didn't work out. We tried so hard, but it´s alright. Satan is trying hard, but we already know that the Lord will win. Always.  Sorry, its kind of a short email, but that's pretty much the week. And happy birthday Maya! I can't believe that you´re going to be 13! Good luck mom and dad with 3 teenagers now.  Some other advice that I got from my Companion this week has helped me a lot. Living in the church for my whole life, I know the doctrine. I know everything in theory. But it´s a little hard for me to apply it and remember it in my own life. To see the blessings. Something that my comp told me would help is to write down these experiences and my testimony in relation to a gospel topic. And once you can apply the gospel in your life, you´ll really be built upon the rock of Christ. It´s a whole lot better than the sand. I would know because there's a whole lot of sand here in Peru.  Thanks for everything, and I love you all! Elder Allen I hear there's been a bit of confusion about my email, so its allen.trevor@myldsmail.net ReplyForward