Last Full Week to Work!

I can’t believe that Carter will be home in 10 days! He will give his homecoming talk in church on Sunday the 25^th at 9 am at our building on the corner  of 400 N. and 300 E. We will have refreshments at our house after. Everyone is invited to join us.

I got after him for the short emails. So here is his version of a long one.

On Tuesday we had a sweet experience. We were knocking doors, trying to find people to baptize and such, when we felt that we should be somewhere else. So we prayed and asked where we were supposed to be. We were directed to knock some apartments down the road. After knocking a few doors, we found the building that we were there for. We knocked the first door downstairs. When the lady answered she asked if we were from San Antonio. We were a little confused, then she explained that 2 weeks ago (to the day) her "partner" received a Priesthood Blessing from the Austin Ward Missionaries. She was ill in the hospital, and passed away the next day. It was a very spiritual experience for everyone who was there. She let us schedule a return appointment for the next day. The next day we taught her about the Resurrection and the Book of Mormon. It was a good lesson. She accepted the invitation to be baptized when she knows the Book is true.

On Wednesday we had a Zone meeting, it was my last one. Depressing. I enjoyed it though.

Thursday before weekly planning I was craving an Avocado like crazy, so we ran to HEB and I bought one. I was very happy after that.

Friday Morning we helped a Recent Convert move into our ward. He was baptized about a year ago, and he is getting married in the temple in a month or two. We are excited to have her in our ward.  That night we taught some of our Progressing Investigators with some awesome members. I love our investigators.

Saturday we knocked all day and worked like dogs, with not much initial success. We built faith though.

Sunday was good, nobody came to church but that's alright. We will go chastise them promptly, and invite them to repent.

Well, I hope that is long enough for all you people. I love you guys, talk to you soon, and see you soon too!

--
Elder Allen

10-29-12

This week was great! 

We had a Zone Conference with Elder Anthony D. Perkins from the 70. He toured our mission and trained us. It was a sweet conference. A few changes were made in the mission because of his visit. I'm excited. Plus our mission is estimated to grow from 190 missionaries to 270 missionaries within a few months because of the age change. It's a new era in the TSAM.

Elder Van Aken and I have been very blessed with people to teach. We found a few new investigators this week. They all seem elect and ready to make commitments. This week will show their dedication and commitments as we follow up and teach them again. I guess well see what happens.

Saturday was our wards Halloween party! The 4 elders in our ward dressed up as general Authority's... I was Elder Bednar. Elder Van Aken was Elder Uchtdorf (because he has some pilot wings he wanted to wear). I wrote "Referrals" on my pillowcase and walked around trick-or-referraling. I got allot of candy in the trunk or treat but not referrals :( It was fun.

The weather here have been very cool. It's been in the high 50's. I love the fall. Is there snow in Utah? I'm starting to miss the snow...

Well that's everything, talk to you all soon!

--
Elder Allen

Stake Conference with Elder Nash

10/22/12

Hello Everyone, 

This week was really cool. On Sunday we had Stake Conference. It was so sweet. The stake President in this area is awesome. Elder Marcus B. Nash from the 70 came to our stake conference. He had an early meeting at the church for all the recent converts and returning from less active members (and investigators). There were only about 25 people in the meeting, a few recent converts and their bishops. We got to go too. It was the best meeting ever! Elder Nash just had all the RC's bear their testimony, and he basically prophesied about a little kid who was there that he would baptize his non member dad down the road. It was sweet. General Authority's are awesome. This Wednesday Elder Anthony D. Perkins is coming to tour our mission, so we will get to have a Zone Conference with him! I'm way excited.

Elder Van Aken and I are doing great together. We are having allot of fun.

Well That's all I've got, talk to you next week.

--
Elder Allen

Elder Van Bacon (I mean) Aken!

10/15/12

Dear Everyone...

This week was good. I got my new Greenie Companion Elder Van Aken (ryms with bacon). He grew up in Oregon, but his family moved to Atlanta right before he came out. He's really cool. He likes to long board and play music. He's really fun. It'll be a good transfer.

This week was good, we picked up a new investigator like every day! We have a few that accepted our baptismal invitations, and are working on reading The Book of Mormon! Now this week well be able to go follow up on how they're doing. I'm excited to have so many new investigators to be working with.  

It's nice to be released from being the District Leader, even tho I kind of miss it. Training is way fun though.

Well that's all I've got for now. Talk to you soon/

--
Elder Allen

New Missionary to Train!

10-08-2012

Big News! 

We got our Transfer calls yesterday. Elder Moote is getting transferred to a new area and becoming a Sr. comp. He is being Doubled in.   I was released from being a District Leader so I can train a new missionary! Elder Earnshaw in our District is our new District Leader so he can have some leadership opportunity. It will be good for him. I'm excited for this last transfer. Life is good. I will get my new missionary on Thursday. Oh yeah Elder Tanner is becoming a Trainer and a District Leader. He's growing up, lol.

General Conference was awesome! I loved it. I'm way excited to re-read all the talks in the Ensign. 

Well that's all I have until next week. Love you all.

--
Elder Allen

Baptism!

10/1/2012

Greetings. This week was really sweet! We had the best Baptism EVER! Our Japanese Investigator was baptized on Saturday. His Anti-Mormon wife came to the baptism! She looked upset to be there at first, but by the end she was talking to everyone and was very pleasant. The Holy Ghost made a big Impression to everyone at the baptism. We had 2 really good talks on Baptism and The Gift of the Holy Ghost.  We watched 4 segments or clips from the Special Witnesses of Christ video. It was awesome. It was the best baptism I've seen on the mission.

The Next day when he was Confirmed and Received the Gift of the Holy Ghost he was so excited! The ward was super welcoming to him and were very encouraging. After the block of meetings he mentioned that he DID feel different and he felt so much more comfortable, the most comfortable he ever had before. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is so real.

Other than our baptism we met a nice guy who Introduced himself as "Lucifer", and throughout our conversation he told us he doesn't like rules or regulations. Right before he walked away he told us he rebelled and was cast out. Then he told me to "watch out for that car." I said "which car?" He said "You'll see." and walked away. I never saw a car... haha. it was a good week.

Well that's everything I've got for now. Talk to you soon.

--
Elder Allen

All September Emails!

 September 3rd

Hey everyone!  I don't have much time today, the library is closed, so we are at a members home using their computers.  This week we had a ton of success! We taught 6 first lessons by knocking doors. That's the best I've had my whole mission! Some of the new investigators we found already dropped us, but a few are still looking good so far. The Lord is really blessing us here. One of our new investigators is from Japan, he was being taught by the missionaries there for the last 3 months. He just barley got to the states. He already has a testimony and everything. He's really cool. The only thing holding him back is his wife... She doesn't like the church. That won't stop him though. I'm excited for him.

Well I don't have much time today, talk to you all next week. Love you!

--
Elder Allen 

September 10th

Hello everybody!

This week was really good, but kind of crazy. I went on exchanges with Elder Earnshaw (from West Valley) this week. We found a really cool guy who was wounded in action in Iraq. He didn't make it to church, so we're going to follow up on him. We are also teaching our Japanese friend still. He said he is ready to be baptized, even though his wife is still not the most supportive. She will come around. We went on Splits with the Elders Quorum on Sunday, I got to ride in a brand spankin' new Porsche. So sweet, 6 cylinder turboed boxer motor, all wheel drive. We broke all 4 tires loose. I was with the Elders Quorum President! Haha he's so cool. He's a billionaire, like for real. Next Saturday he is hosting a ward party, and paying for the food. It will be catered by a stinking fancy restaurant. The best part is he's a totally normal guy, who only wants to serve in the church. His family is super normal and fun to talk to. This ward is sweet.

Everything is going good here, these last two days the weather has been AWESOME!! The cool (dry) fall air came in for a while. Next week it will probably go back to the hot muggy humid 100 degree weather. Dumb. Texas is too hot. I miss the fall so bad.

Well thanks for everything everyone! Talk to you soon.

--
Elder Allen

September 17th 

Today it's been 22 months since I walked in the MTC!  Crazy.

This week was pretty good, our awesome Japanese Investigator has a baptismal date for September 29th. I'm excited for him. He has some really good Japanese Fellowship in the ward.

We also taught an awesome guy we found last week. He is a disabled war vet. He was in Iraq. He can't read too well, but he's been listing to the Book of Mormon on LDS.org and following along with his copy. We had a really good member fellowship there with him in our lesson.

Things are going good, were still knocking a lot of doors and trying to find people.

It's been raining a ton for the last 4 days. I've gotten wet on my bike every day. Lame. It's fun though.

Well talk to you all next week.

--
Elder Allen

September 24th

Hello everyone!

This week was awesome. I got to go on Exchanges with Elder Patrick. We had a few miracles handed to us. While we were looking for a former investigator we knocked into someone who has been wanting to go to a Mormon Church with her family! We had a lot of fun.

I also got to go on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders, I went with Elder Holt. We also found a few cool people and set up return appointments.

Jacob our Japanese Investigator is getting baptized this Saturday. His wife used to be pretty anti, until a member of the ward took Jacob and his wife to lunch and talked for 4 hours about the Gospel! She is very open now, and coming to the baptism! The lord answered our prayers and softened her heart.

Everything is going well in Austin. Thanks for everything. Talk to you soon.

--
Elder Allen