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

Baptism and Humidity

Hello everybody!

This week was good. We had a Baptism on Saturday! It was awesome. She was confirmed on Sunday. The girl was being taught by the Sisters who cover the Singles ward, but the girl was only 17 so she had to be baptized in the Family ward. It was really good. I'll see if I can send pictures. She was baptized by her returning from less active Boyfriend.

Sunday morning we woke up at 4 am to the Fire Alarm going off in the whole apartment building!! Everybody was standing outside because the noise was unbearable. We waited for about 20 minutes for the Fire truck to come, and tell us it was a malfunction. I was very tired on Sunday.

We got our Transfer calls last night, Elder Moote and I are both staying for one more Transfer. I'm excited to stay and continue to get to know the ward here. Right now we don't have any progressing Investigators, but we have allot of good potentials.  

 It is Stinking Humid here! I sweat Soooo much. I had to hang my planner and everything in my pockets to dry last night because they were soaked. Being on bikes is rough. We are on bikes Sunday Monday and Tuesday, then we get the car from Wednesday until Saturday. It works out well.

I went on 2 sets of Exchanges this last week too. It was really fun. It was a good week.

Well I'll talk to you all soon, Thanks again

-- Elder Allen

Lessons,Cars and a Baptism!

Hello everybody. This week was really great. We taught a bunch of people that we found last week. We picked up 3 new investigators. They all happen to be out of town at the beginning of this week, so it will be a while until we can teach them again. We had members come to all the lessons. It was really cool.

We dropped by a less active member to teach her and her non member husband, when right after the opening prayer her less active parents walked in the door! They sat down and listened to the lesson. It was really cool. We set up a return appointment with all of them (except the non member husband).

We got to do some more service and help someone move into an apartment we were knocking. They were really cool. His name was Carter too. Then we knocked into a lady who was really struggling. Her daughter is giving her a hard time (stealing the car and letting the battery die). So we helped her get her car going again and gave her a pamphlet. We set up a return appointment :)

We had the chance to participate in a Baptism yesterday! The 8 year old daughter of a recent convert family we have been working with got Baptized yesterday. Elder Moote did the Baptism and I was able to confirm her. It was really cool.

This week was a good one. Hopefully this next week will be just as good or better!

Love you all, talk to you soon.

--
Elder Allen

And that is a "crazy lady"

Hello everybody! This week was strange. We didn't teach any lessons, but I felt like we were way busy the whole time. On Tuesday we had Zone Conference. It was really good. We learned about getting back to the basics and focusing on talking to everyone. I got to hang with Elder Tanner and his companion Elder Glandon, it was really fun.  I also got to go on exchanges with Elder Earnshaw in the district. It was fun. They have some really sweet investigators they’re teaching right now. I'm excited for them.

On Thursday we went to the Hospital to visit a member there, but while we were in the waiting room a “crazy lady” came to talk to us about getting "help and support" from the Church. Then she asked the Hospital to pay for a cab for her, and when they told her no she flipped out and ran around screaming. We left after that. We did give her a pass along card for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD though.

On Friday we got to drive two other missionaries in our district to the doctor since they were on bikes because they’re car is in the shop.

Saturday we knocked all day and talked to a bunch of sweet people and got a lot of return appointments. We have a ton of appointments set up for this week, so hopefully our numbers will go up.

Sunday was fast Sunday, and we didn't have a dinner scheduled. Elder Moote needed to borrow a bike helmet for the day because he left his in the car... So we called a member close by to see if they had one we could borrow. When we got there they offered to feed us dinner! It was great! I love those surprise miracles. A few hours later we had another one when we were talking to a drunk lady and she gave us a half a sandwich from her fridge. It was nice of her. We told her we would love to teach her, when she's sober. So we set up a return appointment.

That's my week, It was a good one.

Thanks again for everything, talk to you all soon.

--
Elder Allen

July 30th, 2012

Hello everybody, This week has been a good one. Elder Moote and I talked to a lot of people, and got a few 1st lessons. We taught a lesson with a guy that was pretty interested. We brought a young man to help us teach. The young man is actually leaving for his mission on Tuesday! He did a great job, he's going to be an awesome missionary.  We taught another guy who has a lot of family issues. We taught him on Saturday night, and he came to church yesterday! He left right after Sacrament, but I think he liked it.  Also on Saturday while we were knocking doors, we ran into someone who was loading up his U Haul truck. He let us help him lift all the heavy stuff. It was fun. Then an hour later while knocking doors, we got to help another family load their U Haul truck! 2 in 1 day! I thought it was fun.

Well that's about all that happened, It was a good week. Austin is a cool city I guess, but I miss the farm land with nobody around :) Haha. I spent 10 and a half months in little country towns, now I'm dropped in the city. It's good though. I'll live.

Talk to you soon.

--
Elder Allen

Coming to you from Austin....

So this week I got Transferred to Austin!! I'm back in the stinky smelly busy city. Haha just kidding Austin is TONS nicer than San Antonio. I'm on a bike for only half the week. We share the car with the other missionaries in this ward. The ward is so big that my companion (Elder Moote) and I cover the North side of the ward, and the other two missionaries cover the South side. The ward is called Shoal Creek. My area is Shoal Creek A, and the other Missionaries area is Shoal Creek B. My New Address is 12148 Jollyville Rd #1513 Austin Texas 78759. So tell everyone! haha just kidding. 

The ward just barley split last week, we went from 500 members to only 400. I'm still used to Fredericksburg when 60 was a big crowd! I was a bit overwhelmed. I was in the mind set that I was going to be able to get to know all the members on a personal level like I was able to in Fredericksburg, but big wards are different than small Branches. I hope I'll be able to get to know quite a few of them tho. I'm still a District Leader, there are two other companionships in my District. I'm going to get to know them later today when we go play volleyball. That is a change too, I'm used to being the only missionary within an hour plus drive of any others!

Elder Tanner is in my Zone, so I will be able to see him twice a week! I'm really excited about that.

Elder Moote is my new companion, he is from Nampa Idaho. I've known him for a while now, He was in my District in Fredericksburg for a while before I was the District Leader there. I think we will get along ok.

The beginning of the week I spent allot of time saying goodbye to the awesome members of Fredericksburg. I was Transferred on Thursday. They announced I was going up to Austin! So I rode in the van with elder Riley Johnson (the one I graduated with) and we talked the whole time. Elder Jacob Isaac drove the van, He's from Spanish Fork too, he Graduated the same time we did but from ALA. We knew him in Middle School and Jr. High. It was a fun drive.

Once I got to my new area we cleaned the apartment... and were still not done. It was a WRECK! So that will be an ongoing project, but it looks much nicer now.

We taught an awesome lesson to a guy that the previous missionaries taught before. He wants to make some major changes in his life and repent. We brought the Stake Patriarch with us, It was a sweet lesson. I'm excited to go back and teach him.

Well that's my week, Tell everyone to write me letters at my new address:

12148 Jollyville Rd #1513

Austin, Texas 78759

I love you all, talk to you soon!

--
Elder Allen

Goodbye Fredericksburg!

Hello everyone! So the big news this week is that I'm leaving Fredericksburg :( I will leave Thursday morning. I'm kinda bummed. But it will be good. I have a feeling I will be on a bike for the last 4 months of my mission. I guess we’ll see what happens. I hate the bike.  This week has been a really good one. We've taught a few lessons to some cool people, one of them has a date for baptism in August. She will have to make a few big changes for it to happen, but I believe she can do it. I'm excited to get to know a new ward and work in a new area.  Thanks for all you do! Oh, and Happy Birthday to Grandpa Harris and Ashley Scoubes!



Love,


Elder Allen

Hello everybody, My week was awesome.

On Monday while we were at the thrift store looking for ties, a lady walked up to us and asked if we were Elders. She explained that she was baptized in Kerrville, and had been less active for years. We taught her on Friday and she came to Church yesterday :)

On Tuesday I was on Exchanges with an Elder Rosdahl who's serving in Boerne. We Did service for some members in our branch. They own a Feed Store in a little town called Harper. They picked us up and drove us down there. They needed help out at someone Ranch. A few days before they delivered a couple thousand lbs of feed into their home made Cylo. But the motor on the Auger burned up, so they replaced it, and it burned up again. They found a piece of an Extension cord coming out the top of the auger. So they in listed us to help shovel all 3000 lbs of feed out of the bin into bags so we could get to the bottom of the Auger. We were there for hours. It was way fun, I loved it.  Turns out there was no extension cord in the Auger. Oh well.  Then we went to another members house and helped him work on his Lighthouse for a little bit. He's the one from Spanish Fork. He taught us to drive his Dozer too.

On Saturday we drove out to Mason, a little town in our area. We visited all the members who live out there... all 4 of them.  At 3 out of the 4 members we dropped by there was a non member visiting too, and we got to share quick messages with them. It was really cool. One of them wants to keep meeting with us.

Sunday was the best Sacrament Meeting in Fredericksburg I've been to yet. It was awesome. We have a non member family visiting too, there really good friends of the Moellering Family who invited them. It was a great Sunday.

Well that's my week. Talk to you all later.

--
Elder Allen

Meanwhile....back on the mission....

Friends,

Here are the last 4 emails from Carter. I’m sorry they are late, we lost Tom’s mom Chris is month and are trying to get back in the swing of things. Thank you for all the love and support you have giving my family. Carter sounds good doesn’t he?

Nyla

4-30-12

Hello everybody! This week was awesome! I got to go to a training meeting in San Antonio to learn how to be a District leader, that was fun. We got to do some service on a lawnmower and a lot of ranch work. We built 100 tomato cages in record time!  We got to work on a Toyota pickup which was awesome! I know that truck inside and out! Ha! Elder Tanner wrecked on his bike twice in two days. I've got some sweet pictures, and He's got some sweet bruises! Haha good times.   Our Investigator was confirmed yesterday! He's way cool. Now we have to find someone else to teach.... He was our only investigator :( Oh well, back to work!

--
Elder Allen

5-7-12

Hey everybody. I had a really good week! On Tuesday we had President Interviews with President Jones. On the way there the tire on the truck ripped apart! It was funny. The tread separated off the tire. One of the elders in Kerville was driving and it scared him pretty good. We changed the tire and went on our way. The Interviews went well, President Jones is really cool.  This week I had to give my first District Training. I liked it and I think it went well. We gave service at the Food Bank again, we got to talk with all the old people that volunteer there. We got to do service for the member who owns a bunch of Road Graters again, It was really fun. He used to live in Spanish Fork for 10 years or so, so we talked about the Dream Mine and Geneva Steel. That was nice.  We had our Body Shop investigator friend come tour our church. He brought his mom and she loved the Family History service. They really enjoyed it, I think they will be our next baptism here, If we can get them to come the church! I'll happen over time :)

Thanks again for everything, Talk to you soon.

--
Elder Allen

5-14-12

Hello everyone! It was awesome to talk to you yesterday! This week as been really great, I was able to go on exchanges to Kerville and conduct a baptismal Interview! It was my first one, It was pretty cool. I enjoyed it.  We worked hard this week, but haven’t found any new investigators yet. Well keep trying until we find ‘um!

Thanks for all the prayers and letters! I love you all!

--
Elder Allen

5-21-12

This week has been crazy! I've been on two exchanges and did one Baptismal Interview.  I got to go on an exchange with the Zone Leaders in their area, and the AP's came to do an exchange with us. We had 4 missionaries working in our area on Saturday, between us all we talked to 80 people, taught 4 lessons, and got like 6 return appointments! This next week is going to be busy just following up with everyone and teaching them all. I'm excited.  Yesterday was Branch Conference here, so the Stake President and his councilors came to speak and teach all the classes in church. It was really good, and all the members loved it. Then we had a pot luck at the church right after the block of meetings. It was a really good Sunday.

Well I hope you all have a great week, talk to you soon!

--
Elder Allen

The Big Pig Roast!

This week was pretty cool, we got to throw old semi tires off a trailer and set them up for a shooting range, mow a field of 4 foot tall weeds with a walk behind weed eater, give service at the thrift store, and go on exchanges with the Elders in Kerville. The best part about this week was our Pig Roast! We had a bunch of non- members and less actives come! It was really fun. The Kerville Elders came too because we were exchanging back to our normal companionship's. It was a good week.

Next Sunday we get our transfer calls to see if Elder Tanner is getting transferred or not. I hope he gets to stay another transfer! I'll most likely stay one more if he leaves... unless something crazy happens.

Our Investigators are progressing really well. We have a baptism next Sunday that were all excited about.

Thanks again for everything, talk to you soon.

--
Elder Allen

Happy Easter!

Hello everybody! Happy Easter! This week was awesome! We got to do a bunch of service and we found some cool people too.

On Monday for p-day we got to hang out with a cool guy who is the best friend of a member in the branch. We helped him change the spark plugs on his mustang. He is really cool. Hopefully he'll start asking questions soon. 

On Tuesday we helped a member change the water pump on his Cadillac. It has the same Engine as Austin’s car. Then I got to drive his tractor for a little and park a trailer for him. I like tractors :) 

On Wednesday we helped a kind of less active member fix his road grater. He's got like 6 full size road graters. We took the tires off of one so he can get new rubber so he can fix his road :) he’s cool. He used to live in Spanish Fork for years. 

On Thursday some really awesome members drove us to a little town called Mason, like 40 miles away from Fredericksburg, but still in our area. We taught  3 people up there that were former investigators. One lady really wants to come to church and the Branch Pig Roast coming up! On Thursday we also helped a member fix his pickup. Elder Tanner saved him a couple hundred dollars by finding out that the clutch was fine but the Master Cylinder was out of brake fluid! 

On Saturday we got to help slaughter 3 little Piggy's for the Branch Pig Roast coming up! I've never done that before, but it was really cool. We got to do everything from shooting them to getting the meat ready for the grill.

Easter Sunday was awesome, We had a lot of less active members come and feel the spirit. It's so great to have this time of year to remember the Atonement and Resurrection.

This week we found a few people that seem very excited to come to the Branch Pig Roast on Saturday, and start learning more about the church. I feel very blessed to be serving in this area. With all the service were getting to do, the members are really waking up and getting more excited about talking to their friends. We are meeting a lot of the members friends through service, then we will start to work with them. We do a lot of knocking too, but we never seem to get much success from that. But we do it anyway to find those that are being prepared :)

Thanks again for all the prayers and letters and everything. I'll talk to you all next week.

--
Elder Allen

Life is Good

This week has been really great! Were staying pretty busy. We have 1 investigator with baptismal date for April 15th, He came to church yesterday and loved it! He's cool.  We gave a lot of service to some cool people too. We helped an older catholic couple do yard work, and they paid us with cookies and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. She's like our catholic grandma now :) We helped one of our investigators put a fuel pump in a Geo Tracker and got it running for him. We mowed a lawn for a member and gave a few blessings to people. It was awesome.  We've been eating some great dinners with cool members too. Elder Tanner and I get along really well and have fun working together :) Life is good. The Lord is blessing us with people to teach. This will be a good transfer :)

-
Elder Allen

Oh yeah, the night before I left hondo, a member called us to help him on his car. It wouldnt turn over after putting a new starter in. We pulled the plugs to relive compression pressure. When we turned it over gas shot our like a fire hose! the Injectors were stuck open for some reason, and the cylinder were FULL of gas! I got sprayed bad everywere! haha so much fun! So there are some pictures of me soaked in gasoline and oil :) Also a picture of us saying goodbye to DG our recent Convert in Hondo, and some pictues of cars we've seen so far :) I'll see if I can get a picture of Elder Tanner...

--
Elder Allen

--
Elder Allen

Slow Knocking.....but...

Hello everybody! How was your valentines week? Mine was pretty good, Knocking on Valentines night was awkward, but it was funny :)  So this week was pretty slow knocking wise... but we did have a few teaching opportunities. We got to teach a silly person who claimed to be an Atheist of some sort. He allowed us to come back and teach him the next day. He politely listened to us for about 20 min. We read the 1st vision out of Joseph Smith History. He was asking good questions and everything until the end. Right when we read the last word, he said "thanks for coming" and kicked us off his porch. Haha it was strange... we decided that he probably felt the spirit and it freaked him out. He was a cool guy though.

 Then we had a nice long conversation with an anti -Mormon guy. It turned out to be an entertaining testimony builder :) Haha Elder Tanner and I enjoyed it.

On Wednesday we had a sweet Zone Conference! I got to see Elder Johnson and some other missionaries I haven't seen for a little while. We were trained on talking to everyone and using scriptures when we teach. It was sweet. Zone Conferences are the best.

On Thursday we talked to a crazy old guy who collects license plates. He gave us some Texas plates for free :) what a nice guy.

Friday was the best day though, we talked to a member who owns a feed store. We asked her if there was any service we could do out there, and talk to her employees while doing it. We got to scrape up and shovel piles and piles of rotten sour feed that fell from the old silos. Haha it was great, we got all muddy and dirty. Good times. My shoes still stink, I was warned they probably will always stink until the end of forever. We’ll see.

I'm really liking this area, The members are pretty cool. The town is full of non-interested old people, but there's got to be a few out there that are ready!  Thanks for all the sweet packages I got this week =D Today were planning on going to a cool place called Enchanted Rock to go hiking, it should be fun :) Talk to you all next week.

--

Elder Allen

Service is Fun

This week was really cool, we did a lot of service! We got to give service at a thrift store here in town, at a food bank, and for a member fixing his lawnmower, then mowing his lawn. It was fun :) We got to talk to a lot of cool people through  our service activities. No teaching appointments from them yet, but hopefully soon.  We met a lot of crazy people thru knocking though. It was fun.

In Sacrament meeting yesterday we had a hymn testimony meeting. It was really cool. People would go up and say what their favorite hymn was and we would sing a verse or two. It was neat, I haven’t seen that since a few years ago at home in 4^th ward. All the members loved it.

My Comp and I are getting along really well, we have a lot of the same interests, and the same personality. The work is moving slow in this area, but it's sure moving :) It's nice once you start to get to know people in the ward or branch after getting transferred. Haha! Transfers are the worst. I'm excited for these next few weeks and the success we’ll see here :)

Thanks everyone for your support and prayers.

--
Elder Allen

Transferred!

Hey everybody! Sooo... Last night we got our Transfer Calls, and I'm leaving Hondo  :( haha, I don’t want to go, I love this ward, and we found allot of sweet people this last week. Oh well. So Wednesday Morning I go to San Antonio, and on Thursday I find out where I'll be going and who my companion is. Knowing my luck (especially after being blessed with an awesome companion in and awesome area) I'll go somewhere in the middle of San Anton or Austin on a bike... But maybe I'll get lucky and go to another country area =D  Haha, I guess I just have to wait and see what the Lord has in store for me.

This week was awesome, we gave service for an old lady in town. We got a less active family to help us clear a field of weeks and move some dirt, it was the best! Jeans never felt so nice. I got some big old blisters to get rid of my Girly Hands, and wore in my cowboy boots a little :) haha It was sweet.

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Povey our District leader, that was really fun.

On Saturday I got to get down and dirty and fix a members riding lawnmower. Fixing stuff is the best!

Haha well that’s my random week. Next week I'll be in a new area with a new companion... So I'll tell you all about it then! have a good week, love,

 --

Elder Allen

Dilley, Cops and Talks

 

Hello Everybody! This week was a little slower than last week. A lot of our plans and lessons fell through too. Ugh, oh well. We hitched a ride with a member down to Dilley again to teach our investigator down there. It was really fun, and our Investigator is doing great!  His work schedule won’t let him come to church but once a month, but he's reading and praying and doing his best.  The Investigator (Ed) who was supposed to be baptized yesterday didn’t show up for church. We had a really hard time meeting with him last week too. Hopefully we can get him back on board and get him re-committed.

We had the cops called on us once, just because we parked our truck next to a paranoid guy who had his house robbed a few days before. He thought we were the robbers coming back.  We ended up talking to him for a little and the cop that came too. It was pretty cool :)

On Sunday we walked in to Ward Council meeting and were informed that we had to give a talk in sacrament meeting! So, short notice. The High Council speaker and his 2 other speakers thought they were speaking next week, and at a different building. So he was the only one able to make it this week, and he asked us to fill in the other two talks! AH! haha 14 months without giving a single talk isn’t bad right? I think I did pretty good! Elder Johnson ended up giving an awesome inspired 15 min talk, and shared like 3 scriptures and a short testimony then sat down, and the High Council rep talked for the remaining 7 min, So yes, Elder Johnson talked longer than the main speaker haha. It was a good talk though.  Good times.

Other than that I don’t have any crazy stories. We did allot of knocking and finding new investigators.  Next Sunday we get our Transfer calls to see if were leaving or staying... I've been here for four and a half months... so I'm probably leaving :( but we’ll see were the Lord needs me I guess.

Thanks for everything guys, I love you all.

--

Elder Allen