HOLA so I have zero time. I’m now in Oran and I’m a Capacitadora (Sister Training Leader) and I’m nervous as heck!  My new companion is muy buena so far. Her name is Hermana Melo de Brasil. 

Ah leaving Perico was so hard. I received so many texts from random investigatores that aren’t that interested but they wrote me beautiful texts saying how much I’ve helped them (INCLUDING SUSANA CUEZZO)!!! 

Also gun shots outside our apartment Sunday night...but that’s a story for next week because I don’t have time!! Love you all! 

Hermana Allen

Hola

Well this week was so great! We saw many miracles, which made me so happy! I”m also very sad because I DONT WANT TO LEAVE! 

Miracle #1. We had a very spiritual lesson with Matias´s mom! Tuesday we wanted to have lesson with Candela y Guadalupe, but they were in their grandmas house......but we went anyway! When we arrived Candela was helping in the kitchen and Matias and Quada were doing homework. We ended up talking to their mom while waiting for them to finish. She opened up to us about a lot of stuff. (She is pregnant right now and doesn’t want to be) and just feels like she has a huge backpack on her shoulders. Matias kept dropping hints for us to start teaching it was funny... but we just kept listening until they finished homework. We then shared Mosiah 24:12-15 (which I share with like everyone) hahah and we felt the Spirit so strong and it was the first time the mama de Matias was actually listening to us! Matias said she has a huge desire to go to church, but doesn’t want to give up her occasional beer and vine. Hermana Herrera and I were talking afterwards and literally the Lord works in mysterious ways. Maybe Claudia is pregnant to help her keep the word of wisdom and to be humble enough to listen to us. She promised she is going to come to church... my ultimo domingo! 

Miracle #2. Lunch with people from POWAY. So the ex bishop here met someone from Utah on his mission and long story short they got married and he has now been living in the homeland for about 8 years now. Anyway we get this phone call and Hermana Herrera hands me the phone and says I don’t understand! I answer and say ¨hola¨ and on the other end there is this lady talking in English! I WAS SO CONFUSED. I literally thought it was mom or something and there was an emergency at home! it was the son of the ex obispo and his wife was talking. I couldn’t talk in English I felt so awkward but she asked if there is anything I missed from home so that they could make it. I wanted to scream MEXICAN FOOD!!! but instead I said, “oh whatever is good”.  They made us calzones with homemade chocolate cookies! It was so good! I can not begin to tell you how weird I felt during the lunch. Everyone speaks Spanish menos their two little girls and the mom kept talking to them, and seriously I wanted to cry because I felt so weird and I don’t know how I’m ever going to speak English like a normal person.

Miracle #3. FAMILIA CUEZZO CAME TO CHURCH AND MAGALY WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED. I’m kind of running out of time, but we haven’t heard from the Familia Cuezzo in about a month so we just dropped them because we thought they dropped us. But the husband de Gloria is sick with cancer so they didn’t have much time this past month to talk with us. At church I used the technique “hey this is my last week here so when can we come visit you?” and then Magaly shouts Hermana! No you cant leave! I want to get baptized! Literally I was so shocked. I’m pretty sure the last lesson we had with them, they were telling us that they couldn’t believe The Book of Mormon.   Miracle!

Sorry I wrote so much! I just love Perico! I’m so jealous of the next missionary that comes here! But hey there is still a possibility that I can stay! Thank you for the letters! Love you all! 

Hermana Allen 

PS sorry my English is sooo bad.

Hello family! 

This week was so great! Guadalupe and Candela got baptized, FINALLY! Ah it was so sweet to watch Matias baptize them. Hermana Herrera and I love the Espinoza family so much! We were a little sad because their mom and step dad didn’t come...but their dad came so that was still good. Literally I just had a moment on Sunday when I realized that I probably only have 2 weeks left in Perico.  I’m really sad about it.  I feel like I have more friendships with the members here than in my first area (probably because I can speak now. haha) but really I don’t want to leave or think about changing areas...so I wont for now ;) 

Ah I feel like a lot of funny things happened this week, but as always I can’t remember. I always think oh I need to write home about this and then I always forget.... sorry I’m so boring. 

I LOVED THE VIDEO OF ADAM DRIVING! AWWWW WHY IS EVERYONE SO OLD!

I don’t know if I’ve ever explained how I shower here, but you pretty much turn on the water and it fills up a bucket and then turn off the water, plug in the bucket thing to an outlet,  wait 15 minutes and then you have like a 3 minute shower while the water drips out of the bucket... anyway our outlet melted and we have had to heat water over the stove and then pour it into the bucket it’s great. haha

My companion wants me to learn “Chileano” so she has been teaching me words. One word that I love to say, and we have used so much here is “FLAITE” which pretty much means ghetto haha. So todo el timpo we are saying “Oh we are so flaite” or “That man is so flaite”.

Also every night my companion needs to use the bathroom and I swear every morning she says, “The baby cucarachas came out last night”.  She won’t kill them and I don’t know why, but yeah, only at night in our bathroom are there little baby cucarachas. 

Also one person asked if I was from Germany another person if I was from Brazil.  I just don’t get people sometimes. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

Count your blessings! Read your scriptures! And as always...

Eat some Mexican food!

Con amor.

Hermana Allen 

"A butterfly on my finger...that never happens in real life"
- Hermana Allen

The baptism of Guadalupe and Candela 

Selfie with Matias and his sisters

Feliz Dia de las Madres!

Mom, I totally forgot to say Happy Mothers day to you yesterday....haha sorry :) It was so good to hear your voices and see your beautiful faces! Also, all my siblings are so so big and grown up looking...make it stop. haha

This week was really great (sorry if I repeat some stuff). Saturday was the baptism of Hermano Rojas! It was tender. This was definatly a baptism of the ward...we didn’t do like anything. He has been investigating for about 20 years now and since I’ve been here he has had 3 baptism dates and then last minute he decides no. But his home teachers visited him and actually put the latest baptism date with him and after that he was the most sure I’ve ever seen him! Everyone from the ward was so excited and happy for him. 

This week Candela and Guadalupe will be baptized (Sisters de Matis) and MATIS IS GOING TO BAPTIZE THEM. So ill Probably cry or something like that. 

I’m so happy here in the mission. I really feel like I have learned so much and I’m sure I’m going to continue to learn more. I’m also really grateful to be training. Seeing my companion adjust to mission life and helping her with her problems has made me think a lot about my dark and painful moments on the mission, but how I’ve overcome so many things. Its great because its helped me help so many people overcome many dark and painful things. Maybe not the same as me, but I know a little bit more of how to help them. But really the hard things I go through do help them, its my experience with the atonement that help them. The atonement is really the only thing that can help anyone. I’m also so grateful to be serving here in Argentina. It is a blessing. 

Time is flying by! I hope that everyone has a great week this week! 

Love you all 

Hermana Allen 

Baptism of Hermano Rojas (Eterno Investigator) with his family.

My heater...
which is really just a light that gives a tiny bit of heat. 

Hermana Herrera using my hair dryer to get warm.
She had it on so long it melted the electrical converter.

Mothers day-
Moments before Skype call with mi famila.

Mate Season

So let me just start off that I’ve never been so cold in my entire life! Life without heaters is pretty depressing haha. Be grateful. This week was a little difficult.....

Hermana Herrera was sick with fever for 2 days and when you have a new missionary sick...its really hard. Satan is very good at his job.... lets just say there was a lot crying for family, pain, and frustration :( but she is all better now and back to her normal self!

On Tuesday we were dying because it was soooo cold. We called the mission office and asked if they could send us money to buy a heater, but they said it would take a week for them to put the money in our account----so we just decided to buy one and have them re pay us. But Tuesday night came along so we didn’t have time to buy it and justo Hermana Herrera got sick that night so I gave money to a member and they bought us one! Well its more like a giant light that gives off heat haha but its better than nothing...also Mom, the sleeping bag its really great too! Thank you.  I have a really great picture of the ¨heater¨ but Hermana Herrera left her cable to her camera...so next week! 

Hermano Rojas si o si will be baptized this Saturday! Yay! Its funny because he is our eterno investigator and when the bishop announced his baptism EVERYONE was so happy and bore their testimonies about him hahah so sweet. I think he hated it but really secretly loved it. 

For breakfast its back to hot chocolate, mate, and boldo. So I’m pretty happy about that. Nothing really happened this week sorry I’ve been soo boring lately I’ll try to improve in that. It looks like the next few weeks we will be getting some action! We have plans to be tourists next week so expect some great photos.

CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR FACES! LOVE YOU ALL. UNTIL MOTHERS DAY!

Hermana Allen 

Enjoying the little bit of warmth from the heater... I mean light.