Hola Mi Bonita Familia! 

Wow looks like Utah was a fun time! Thanks for the pictures, loved seeing everyone. Oh yeah okay so kind of sad but I didn’t know it was Easter until like Thursday! Hahaha SO HAPPY EASTER! 

Yeah Easter here was interesting. Friday we had a ward activity (talent show) but before that we literally were walking all over Perico trying to find people. It really was so weird it was like ghost town and we literally had no luck. Then we walk over to the church and in the middle of the street there was like a play of the Crucifixion and like a mob of 300 hundred people watching. So yeah we found the people Hahaha very interesting! 

So this week we’re having trying to find new people to teach because we have very few and literally I’ve never walked so much in my entire life. I told my comp this week was the record for walking in the mission for me. Not to much success, but at the end of the week we did see some milagros! 

First off, Matias was FINALLY baptized! Yay! Literally he is the most prepared person I’ve taught on my mission. “Born to be Mormon” hahaha. His baptism was really great too! When he came out in his white clothes I felt the Spirit so strong. That has never happened to me before....l could just feel that Heavenly Father was so happy :) it made me happy. Also it was his 18th birthday and after the baptism his mom invited us over to his grandparents house for empanadas. Not going to lie we were a little scared because 1. The grandparents are not supportive of Matis becoming “a Mormon¨ because they have heard a lot of things that are not true...the usual. We could only stay for a few minutes but it was good and we were able to talk to his family. Then the next day at church Matias said that he invited his mom and she almost came and he also wants her to take the lessons! We love his animos to share the gospel its great! 

So the drama with the familia Cuezzo. We tried to call Susana to set up another appointment, but she didn’t answer our calls. So we called Gloria (her mom) and she said we could visit her but that Susana doesn’t want to take the lessons anymore :( literally my heart broke. I asked if it was because we invited her to be baptized and she said yes....so yeah that was a little sad. But we went Thursday to teach Gloria and her other daughter Magaly and also the hijo se Susana was there too, Emiliano! We showed them Finding faith in Christ and at the end, everyone was in tears. We bore our testimony and then Magaly said “I feel like God loves me so much” and then Gloria said, “thank you for coming and showing this...I was about to leave the discussion like Susana but now I want to continue.” It was so good! We decided to share the video because it’s all from the bible and I think that really helped them understand that we are not ¨Mormons¨ but that we are Latter-day Saints in The church of Jesus Christ. The same Jesus Christ that the Catholics believe solomente tenemos the restored gospel :) 

My companion still makes me laugh a lot and is doing well :) we totes wrote a 10 sec rap poem thing for the ward activity and it was embarrassing for sure but also really great. Also my camera kind of is broken for the moment. It fell off the table and the lens is stuck and so I can’t take pictures. We found a place that says they can fix it, so that’s good! Mom I think Matis tried to send photos to your face book or mine not sure. 

Have a great week! Can’t believe this week is official hump day! This mission thing is going by so fast!

The baptism of Matias

Bueennnnooooo

So this week was a wee bit stressful but like the normal mish stressful not to worry :) SO my hija and I get along really great. Her personality is really funny and she makes me laugh a lot! Fun stories....my companion hates spiders.  She has a talent of finding spiders no matter where we are. We will be in a middle of a lesson and she will turn to me and say “I feel the presence of a spider!” Then about two minutes later she will find one! Also she hates oranges and anything orange flavored, which is really unfortunate because in just about every household they offer you orange juice. 

SO we just got back from Salta because my companion had interviews with president. It was really fun because after President gave us a ride to the terminal and we were just talking about life and his family. It was funny because he said, ¨Oh I was talking with my sister (Laura Buriek) the other day and she says hi!” haha 

So the stressful part, everyone is giving us so much pressure because the familia Cuezzo doesn’t have a baptism date. Literally it’s kind of frustrating because everyone sees them at church happy and they just think everything is all good and sunshine but in reality the family has a lot of problems. Susana is really mal todavia (bad, ill still) and the abuela still has a lot of doubts. So Tuesday we went to talk with Susana with the bishop and she was just really sad and said that she doesn’t feel forgiven of her sins. So then when she came to Perico and talked with the Obispo (bishop).  After apparently he said that after she has confession she now needs baptism to feel completely better (which is true) but after she had a lot of anxiety. Thinking about changing religions gives her anxiety and yeah.... so then Saturday my companion and I made this plan to finally have a family home evening with everyone and FINALLY teach the first lesson and then invite them to baptism. My companion was so nervous because well... she is still learning, but the spirit was SO STRONG! After we invited them to be baptized and they all said no. Then we said that the date is just a goal and not a compromiso. The oldest son then said, ¨sure¨ and then the other son who is the most interested said “oh okay then me too”. Then Susana was all, ¨what!? You guys want to get baptized?¨ oh seriously I just have so much love for this family the lesson did not go as planned and I was just really sad. Sometimes free agency is really frustrating. I know that they all know that the church is true they are just afraid of there neighbors and what people will think of them and they have never prayed to know if what we are teaching then is true. Literally Gloria (the abuela) said, “I know the Catholic religion isn’t true and I like this and that and this and that of your church and I feel so good.”  Okay sorry for the rant haha :) 

Also kind of weird miracle! Last week my companion had the impression to talk to an old couple so we did and the Señora was really nice and said that Elders have come to her house years antes and then she gave us detailed direction on how to get to her house! So we visited her and it turns out that her son died in a car accident and she knows everything about the church and wants to get baptized! There are only two problems...she needs to get married and the church is on the same street where her son was killed, and she doesn’t want to go near it. She is so sweet (reminded me a lot of grandma Allen) and she had a LOT of good memories from the Elders. She said one of the Elders walked with her to church with a blindfold until she entered so she couldn’t see the street. I think we will have to try that :) 

Sorry this is so long! Love you guys! Have a great week! 

Hermana Allen

BUEN DIA

COMO ESTAS? 

Bueno I’m officially a mom and I love it! Mi hijita is Hermana Herrera de Santiago Chile. She is muy bueno! I love her. We get along so great and I just have so much love for her. I thought that training would be like the most stressful thing in the world, but so far I’m enjoying it! Everyone is so right when they say new missionaries have such great animos! Its like so nice working hard, her excitement to improve, work hard, ah seriously I’m just so happy. Dad was so right. A good companion makes all the difference. 

SO story right before I met my baby. I had to travel solo and the terminal I had to take was in Jujuy and I’ve never been to the city before, but i was all like its chill ill just take the bus and ask someone where to get off for the terminal. So I get off the bus and was looking for the bus station that had my ticket and I couldn’t find it anywhere and I had 15min until my bus left! I kept asking people and kept getting different answers and then apparently there are 2 terminals in Jujuy and I was in the wrong one! So then I spent like a billion pesos for a taxi to the other terminal and missed my bus. had to wait to take another one and arrived in Salta at like 11:30pm but then I had to wait with the Sister Training Leaders de Salta for another sister. We were talking and then I asked if she knew where Hermana Smith got transferred to, and then she said ¨Hermana she is sleeping in the apt right now! ¨AHHH I was soo stoked! So yeah deffinatly was a tender mercy that Hermana Smith and I are training together! It was so fun! And wow we have improved so much! Talking in Spanish with her was like no big deal! Also her baby is really sweet and seems great! 

Also Hermana Aliaga is training too so I got to ask her all about Simoca :) 

SO Matias will not be baptized this Saturday because he wants to get baptized on his birthday. So that’s chill. But he is doing really great! Progressing and is talking about a mission, so that is really exciting! Not much happened this week. Just trying to pick things up a little bit and continue to work hard. Literally this is going by way too fast and I’m not liking that. I love the mission so much! I’m just so happy! 

Also congrats Adam, MVP... WADUP! And I’m a little hurt that none of you siblings wanted to include me in the March Madness Allen Tradition. ;) Have a great week! 

Hermana Allen

Hermana Herrera de Santiago Chile
Hermana Allen

Trainers with their "babies" aka brand new missionaries

Hermana Smith and Hermana Allen
MTC companions and New Trainers

"Coke, apples, and dulce de leche... que mas necesita?" -Hermana Allen

Time to say goodbye... Again!

I'M GOING TO BE A MOM!
Hi, so I’m having a baby! I am literally freaking out.

Yesterday I received the call that I’m going to be training.

So yeah... I don’t know what presidente is thinking, but I still feel like a baby myself and that I don’t know anything, so we will see how this goes. My companion is leaving in about an hour and my hija doesn’t come until Wednesday, so a member is going to be my companion for 24hrs so that’s also funny. 

This week was really really good! I finally feel like my self again and we defiantly received some tender mercies and miracles!

Bruno and Diego were baptized! WAHOO! It was a beautiful baptism. I’m so happy for him.

Matias showed up late to church and missed the first hour so his baptism date fell through :( but that’s okay because he is still going to be baptized just on the 19th instead of the 12th! 

So I think the best part of my whole week was la Familia Cuezzo. We visited them again this week twice, Friday and Saturday. Before we went to there house I was studying talks from the last world wide missionary conference and it talked a lot about the doctrine of Christ and repentance. The whole time I was reading it the family came into my mind. So then I starting studying about faith and repentance and Alma 36 came to mind. SO we decided to share the conversion story of Alma with the family.

We arrive and it was the first time we met the husband of Susana and he is way interested, which was surprising to me because well my first impression of him wasn’t so great, but seriously he is awesome! Susana (the one who is struggling with anxiety/nerves) once again was bawling and kept saying she didn’t have faith and didn’t know what was wrong with her.

We shared Alma 36 and talked about the Atonement. And she said ¨This is exactly how I feel!¨ And her husband said ¨Maybe you should try what Alma did.” Seriously like the best moment in my life! hahah The Book of Mormon was real for them. And was also another testimony builder of how much God know his children and what they need.

Saturday we came back for another visit and for lunch! We then started to talk about faith, how can we have more faith ect... Alma 32. Susana once again was sharing her feelings and every time she does her mom (Gloria) just said you know what’s wrong.. just say it. You’re just nervous, ect...a little bit of shame.¨  We just sat there and listened the best we could. Then Susana said something that made my heart cry. She paused and said to me, I feel like you really understand were I’m coming from and everything out of your mouth is what I need to hear. Your companion says nice things, but I don’t feel the same way when she talks compared to you.¨

She said this because I was in her shoes not to long ago and even though her situation is worse than mine, I know how frustrating it is when you don’t feel like yourself and everyone around you tells you that you’re fine or to just suck it up.

God gives us experiences for a PURPOSE! Sometimes it’s to help other people. I really do feel like I’m here for Susana. I love her so much! I want her faith to grow so much.

This Sunday her whole family came! (Susana, her husband, 3 sons, her sister, and mom, Gloria). I’m cheering for them and I’m so happy that I’m for sure staying here for another 2 transfers, so that I can keep working with them! 

Thank you for all the kind words! LOVE YOU ALL! So grateful for all the support I have. Be brave little champions! 

Hermana Allen 

Baptism of Bruno and Diego

Sisters of the District

P-day with the District
Candid Lake el Carmen

Candid Lake in el Carmen