Monday October 29, 2013

Today marks the start of my 5th transfer! INSANE! Sister Hollander and I are staying together here in Kaibab :) I am excited and blessed to be here.

As you know it seems like work has been slow this transfer but somehow we have been super busy this past week and this week will be too. Not necessarily teaching appointments with non-members but just planting seeds! We have been able to do lots of service recently and I LOVE it. I am here to serve everyone and so we love it when people actually allow is to.

We got a referral from Dave (LA/PM Family) for his neighbors across the street for Donna and Dick also a LA/PM Family situation. So we went over there this week and it was funny.. When we opened the door she said "Are you Jehovah Witness!?" Of course we said "no" and said who we were and she said "Good, come in. Come in." We actually got that a few times this week. It looks like we have some competitors but they aren't too liked here. Haha. Anyways, so Dick is the member but not active and his wife Donna is not a member. We chatted with them for a good while and they agreed to have us come back to help her clean and organize her home. Score!

We also met with Skye this past week. Before when we had met with him it was hard to get anywhere because he has a lot of questions and our fellowshipper would just answer them all, but none were necessarily doctrine. Well this week we decided to jsut go by ourselves and it was perfect! He has read 1 and 2 Nephi already and so we talked about the end of 2 Nephi, on some scriptures he didn't understand. And we got him to pray!!! Yay! It was a little different though.. This is how he started out.. "Oh dear wonderful, beautiful universe!" Hahaha ya he still hasn't gained that testimony on God yet but we are working on it. We are going down to the Family History Center with him this week and we are all super excited for that!

Ok so I don't if I have told you about Tobi but she started meeting with missionaries a little over a year ago. Her husband got baptized a few months before than too. Ok she goes to church every Sunday and reads from the Book of Mormon all the time and she loves President Monson! Golden right? Well she could just never make up her mind and has kept putting it off. So we have just let her have her own time to sit and think about it. She is Greek Orthodox which I think is a lot of why she has held off for so long because it's more of a family tradition to be Greek Orthodox. Well one of her friends Sister Bowman texted us last week and said "Tobi has been inspired she needs to become a mormon!" WHAT!? Yaaa so we are going to start meeting with her tomorrow! I am so so stoked! She is a fireball too, let me tell ya. Seriously funniest lady I have ever met. I love her and am so excited that she has finally realized what she needs to do.

We also met with Sommer and Bruce again this week. Another one of those LA/ PM families. We taught them the Plan of Salvation. I think it went well for the most part. Bruce actually opened up and had lots of questions. He usually just sits back and let's Sommer talk but he talked more this time. It was so great. But they didn't come to church yesterday!!!!! Such a bummer. They are still wanting to bless their baby though and she turns one the beginning of December and they want to before she turns 1. So we will see with them.

Ok Damion (Conner and Joshs friend) We haven't been able to get a hold of him this week! :( But last night we went to go drop something off at a members.. It was so last minute. We kept putting of dropping this card off at her house and so I was finally was like we have to go right now and lo and behold Connor, Damion, and Josh were outside at the house across the street. Inspired? Ah I love how smart God is. So we were able to talk to all 3 of them for a while. We weren't able to set up an appointment with Damion though :( But we will keep trying. It was so good that we were able to see Josh too because have just felt so bad since we dropped him because we was upset. But he just wasn't progressing! So we were able to talk and break the ice again. So great!

We also haven't been able to get ahold of Levi at all this week either :( Which is weird.. I swear he was so golden! Stupid adversary. But we are going to track him down this week!

We also were able to get a few referrals this week so hopefully those will turn in to investigators as well! Some sound pretty golden too. Now if we could just get a hold of them! Haha

All in all though this week has been great! I read a talk entitled "The Fourth Missionary" It is amazing!!!! Everyone should read it. Missionary or not. It is a talk that is easily applicable to everyday life and how we look at things. We need to have a vision and positive attitude and we can conquer all with God on our side.

"If you surrender, If the Lord wins, you win also. If you win, if your will prevails, you and the Lord both lose. The only way to win is to lose. Lose yourself in the Lord's work, and you will win beyond your wildest imaginations."

Love you all and hope you have a great Halloween and week!

Julianna and I :)

Monday October 21, 2013

 St George East Zone

Sister Sordes and I

 The Taite family :)

Telephone Booth (you would think I'm in England huh mom)

HUGE squash at Charlettes home :)

 

Ok first off, my 6 month mark is this week!!!!!!! INSANE! Like I seriously don't know where the time has gone. I remember when I first came out everyone said the time flies but I thought they were all lying to me haha but they weren't!

This week was pretty good. We had Zone Conference this week which was amazing and so good to see my Visitors Center Sisters again! A lot of Zone Conference was on.... Working with members! Who would've guessed it, right!? It was really good though and I think just what we needed. I have been frustrated with our ward mission leaders but I think we need to step up our part and help them to be more involved. So we are meeting with each of them this week separately so hopefully things will be better and progress more in every way.

We met with Levi again this week! Unfortunately only once because he's been sick and had job interviews and such.. We finished the first lesson with him this week though and I think it went really great. Everything made sense to him and he understood it all. And we got him to pray!!! Our first lesson with him he wouldn't. He said he would pray more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon so we will see tonight. He said he is sitll interested in getting baptized but just isn't totally positive.. he has a hard time believing there is just 1 true church. So we are working on that..

We also had our last lesson with the Robinson girls this week. Super sad but now the ward is taking over the recent convert lessons. We also had dinner with them and it was sister Hollanders first time having tacos! Can you believe that? Haha she loved them though, and of course you know I did too. Although I don't know if they beat dads Watusi taco fest! ;)

We had to drop Josh this week :( He just wasn't progressing in any way. He wouldn't read from the Book of Mormon and we even tried reading it with him but no luck.. We had a couple with us that night too and they just did not get a long with Josh so it didn't really end on a good note. Which is so sad because Josh really has such a love for Christ and a great relationship but he is just not ready or open at this time.

So last week we were contacting in-actives and met Dave and Marcie. Dave is the in-active and Marcie is a catholic. The first time it was just Marcie and she was kinda busy but we set up a time to come back! Wahoo! So then when we went back Dave was there and not Marcie so we couldn't go inside but we chatted for probably 30 minutes on his porch. He says he has a desire to come back to church and eventually be sealed to his wife! Double wahoo! He really wants us to meet with them so we are calling him today to set up a new time when we can catch them both.

So funny story.. About 2 weeks ago we were at The Junction eating and this older man starts making small talk with us and we found out he was less-active then after lunch we went to find Greg (our other LA guy we've been working with) where he works and this guy was there!!! And he was like "Are you two following me?" Than last Pday we were eating at a different restaurant and he was there too and said the same thing!!! So we figured out where he lived and went to visit him this week. His name is Brother Hamblin and he is just the sweetest man. We talked to him for a while on his doorstep but couldn't go in because he is a "bachelor" and lives alone. He is great though. He loves family history and volunteers there every week but just has a hard time going to church. Well yesterday at Stake Coordination we found out that he was at church yesterday! I was sooo happy! If only all people were that easy!

Anyways, that is pretty much all for now! Hope you all have a great week!

MONDAY OCT 14TH 2013

Got to see The Nashville Tribute Band :)

 

Ok this week has been AMAZING!

We had 2 administrators from the MTC come and stay with us for 2 days! I guess they go out once a year with missionaries and see what they can do to better train people in the MTC for the field. It was great to have them, we learned soooo much from them! They are so bold! Like I thought I was bold.. Nope not even close compared to them. But they are so lovingly bold. They also had such great faith. One of them was with us when we did our Weekly Planning Friday and encouraged us to have faith in finding new investigators like a lot! And guess what!? We were able to get 3 new investigators in 2 days! They are way more solid than the 2 we even have now too! So we are way excited!

One of them is Levi who I have talked about before. He just moved back to Kanab. We met with him Saturday for the first lesson and invited him to be baptized and he said YES! He just doesn't know when yet because apparently he might be moving again :/ We are seeing him again tonight though so hopefully we can put him on date today!!!!

Bruce was able to become an investigator too. His wife is Sommer, a less active, who I know I have talked about a little bit. They want to start meeting with us more so we are way excited! When we saw her last week she said she didn't have a skirt for church so she would go when she got one and she was saying she loved maxi skirts! Well the whole week I kept having these thoughts that I should just give her my maxi skirt because I can't wear it on the mission anyway and I thought nooo that's weird. I don't know what she would say... Well we stopped by Saturday to see if they were coming and she said she didn't have a dress or skirt yet. Well perfect I just so happened to have my maxi skirt in the trunk! She was sooo excited and said they would be there! Sad story- they didn't end up coming because she worked grave yard and their little girl couldn't sleep but they promise they will be there next week and we have an appointment before than too so we will see!!!! Pray for them por favor!

K 3rd new investigator is Damian. We met up with Josh and he was with Connor (our LA boy we are working with) and Damian (non-member!!!) Well turns out Damian is more open and interested than Josh and we are going to start meeting with him too!!!!!

We had a stake party on Saturday out in Moccasin and it seemed like so many people were coming up to us saying they want us to meet with their neighbors, co-workers, etc.. Miracles I tell ya! I had been getting so frustrated with the lack of referrals here and BAM we got like 4 or 5 that night! And for families too! Sooo excited! Ahhhh the Lord is working miracles. We just have to have that faith that He can!!!!!

Random things: We were finally able to get some service projects! We helped clean out an apartment and let me tell you it was a mess! It blows my mind sometimes the homes we go in to. Then we also helped a less active, recent convert organize her scrapbook room!

The Nashville Tribute Band had a fireside/ concert last night for out stake and it was amazing! They called us up on stage to sing with them! Probably not their smartest move haha but it was so fun!

Anyways, I gotta go.. running out of time! I love you all! Keep sweet, and keep the faith!

 

Another jump shot

Bathroom shot in the church haha

 

 Moccasin church building

 

 

 

MONDAY October 7, 2013

ColoradoCity Lunch Break

Hello, how's it going?

A friend emailed me last week and asked if the mission was hard.. Ha! She said missionaries never say anything about it being hard til they come home.. Well I'm gonna be honest. This past week-2 weeks has been hard.. I think she jinxed me ;) But It's interesting because I thought if I could make it passed the first transfer or 2 and I would be set.. I would be good to go.
Well the first 2 transfers were great! Didn't cry once and never felt home sick.. Didn't think about home and nothing distracted me. When I got told 2 months ago I was coming out here to Kaibab was the first time I cried and that's just because I was gonna miss my "mission mom" and I was told Kaibab would be tough. I wasn't ready to leave my comfort zone in St George.
But I did what the Lord asked of me and I came here with faith. It was surprisingly easier than I thought when I first came out here to the boonies but it just seemed like the adversary was working on me more and more every day. Sister Roth and I got along great but of course we had our spats. But I got through it and now I am training. Which is tough stuff!!!!! Sister Hollander is great! Like fantastic! She's a great missionary, companion, and friend. She tries her hardest and definitely puts herself out there more than I probably did when I first came out. But as senior companion and trainer all the weight of everything is on me.. If we don't have investigators, or they don't come to church or not very many lessons.. I feel like it's all on me. But the toughest part is that they say just be exactly obedient and you will be blessed! Well I don't know how we could be any more obedient!!! It's hard when you see disobedient missionaries having success.. That's what gets me down. I think I care to much what people think.. or I know I do. I just want people to see us for how we really are. We work hard and have been trying our hardest!! But as I've pondered this a lot the past week I have realized that it really doesn't matter what others think but that Heavenly Father and Christ know the intents of our heart and know we have been trying our hardest!
This whole week I kept asking 'how can I be a more successful missionary?' Well yesterday as I was reading from the October ensign I found this talk:

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/10/how-can-i-be-a-successful-missionary?lang=eng

Yes it is called How Can I be a Successful Missionary. You think God heard my prayers? He does!!!!!!! God is real, but so is Satan and that's the scary part. But if we can just always push forward with faith and that positive attitude we will be alright.

Our numbers may not have looked the best this week on lessons, I swear 75% of our lesson cancelled! We tracted and contacted a whole lot this week with no success there! And some of our less-actives are super stubborn... But I can focus on that or focus on the positive. We were able to get 2 new investigators this week!!! Who hopefully will start progressing more. We were able to meet with Sommer and Bruce, which is a less-active and potential investigator, and have another appointment set for this week! Levi, one of our potentials, will be officially moving back into our area this week and he is so golden!! And we got to hear from the prophet and apostles! General Conference was AMAZING!!!!

So yes, a mission has its ups and downs of course, but it's because of the love you have as a missionary for the people you serve. It's hard when people drop you or they continue with their bad habits but the blessings and happiness of the mission is all worth the heart ache and hard times. It has amazed me how much I have learned about myself and how much I have learned about our Savior. And I would not trade it for anything!!!

"Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."

President Dieter F Uchtdorf

Love, Sister Allen

 Sister Hollanders first time roasting hot dogs and smore's!

 

 Beautiful sunset and being silly on the way to Colorado City

 Random llama in Co. City

Can you tell I like jumping pics?

 Had to sneak a picture through the mirror to get a decent pic! Haha

 

Sister Hollanders first frosty!