Happy Halloween

LILLY happy birthday today! ADAM happy birthday tomorrow! You guys are so grown up! 

Whelp this past week was exhausting.  Literally I felt so bad because apparently I had the “Im tired face at church” and everyone was asking if iI was okay...my companion too. haha oops. But this week was great. The other Hermana came back to the mission so we said goodbye to Hermana Oliviera which was a little sad.

Friday part of the zone went to Tucman for tramites. And in about an hour we are going to Salta for consejo de lideres. 

Saturday night we had a lesson with the familia Rojas and man it was CRAZY. the mom (Sandra) is progressing so much and has so much desire to help her familia. We taught the word of wisdom and even had a member with us who overcame drinking before he got baptized. The dad (Carlos) didn’t really say that he would leave his wine completely. Y bueno....the familia Rojas have a kiosco (a small store)  in there house and when the people come they have to attended the clients. So during the lesson Sandra left for literally 3 or 4 min and Carlos started yelling at her. saying that the lesson was more important...and we are all “herman o esta bien we will wait” then she came back and started crying and said that he always yells and she doesn’t like it with he yells at the kids because she was raised with verbally abusive parents and she can now see that her husband is doing the same. and then Carlos started to talk and say that he was raised on the streets and his parents were really strict with him and it’s the only way he knows how and because he is the head of the family everyone has to listen and respect him.....MAN OH MAN....literally we felt like were in a marriage therapy session. But it ended all good....then Sunday morning we called to wake them up for church and Sandra said that she can’t go because her husband drank all night long and no one slept and that her daughter was crying for us in the night. 

Literally breaks my heart. We have so much love for them. Please pray that Carlos will have desires to change. also my testimony grew of the doctrine of the families that we have in the church. We left them with the proclamation to the family. And there are just so many problems we avoid when we follow the gospel and all that it teaches. 

Hope everyone enjoys the nice California beaches. :)

LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU

Hermana Allen 

Adventure

Okay literally I have felt like this week has been a crazy adventure. I really love the mission and all the surprises that we find every day. 

Okay so I have been in trio for the past week because the mom of a Hermana here died :( She returned home this week because she is the only child and had to do all the paper work jazz, but should come back to the mission Thursday.  We have been with Hermana Oliviera this week and I love her so much. She is also from Brasil and has only been in the mission for 3 weeks so we are also training her so we have to do 4 hours of study and work in 2 areas! LOCO!!! 

Story 1:   One night we spent the tarde in the area of Hermana Oliviera and they have an investigator who is a addicted to alcohol. long story short I left the lesson with a liter of beer and a box of wine in my hands and shortly after poured it all in the street. 

Story 2:   We wanted to make pan de banana so we went to buy bananas.  My companion was asking how much the bananas were, the man said “where are you guys from?” (like always) and Hermana Oliviera said BRASIL. then he started talking in Portugues.  Turns out he is from the same little city de Hermana Goncalves. 

Story 3:   We ran a lot this week trying to catch buses. 

Story 4:   A grasshopper the size of a small bird entered our house and it took us about 20 min to have the courage to kill it.  I don’t like animals that jump.

Story 5:   Presidente came this weekend for zone conference and stake conference. It was so good! We talked about using our time wisely and it was all the things I needed to hear.  We also started talking about the iniciativa for Christmas, which is like my greatest fear because Christmas means I’m nearing then end. 

Story 6:   FAMILIA ROJAS CAME TO STAKE CONFERENCE. Well… the parents did, But hey it’s a start! They are awesome. Friday we had the best lesson ever because a member is friends with the dad and showed them photos of when his family got sealed in the temple and shared his capo tesimonio and it was great. Sandra (la mama) is really interested wants her family so change....but after the conference she whispered in my ear to pray for her husband because he drinks a lot....so there might have some work with that one and I’m trying not to get too excited but I love them. 

Whelp I feel like there are more things...but I can’t remember ...like always. Thanks for all your love! Miss you all! have a great week! 

Hermana Allen 

Saltamonte

Hey guys. 

This week was good. We found the familis Rojas! It was such a great experience. The parents are married (miracle) and they have 7 kids and ALL OF THEM listened to us as we taught the restoration. They all were paying close attention and it was such a great lesson! I’m praying that they will progress. 

Sooo this weekend I spent with my companion in the hospital.....yes I know I’m always in the hospital with people. Saturday we had an activity de zone where we all go to one area and contactar so that the area can receive mas referencias. Anyway it was REALLY hott that day. I think it was somewhere in the 90s I don’t know. My companion passed out literally and the cell phone of Hermana Chaparro was turned off so we took her to the clinic without permission....oops.  They hooked her up to an IV for no reason and we were there in the hospital ALL DAY AND THE DOCTOR NEVER CAME. Then Hermana Chaparro finally called us back and said that this clinic is really bad and they have had bad experiences there and she wasn’t too happy with us.  They basically just wanted money so they kept us in there for 2 days until we just got up and left. It was LOCO. but really everyone is sick here. Summer is coming and I know it’s just a matter of time before I die. haha 

Also today I felt like I was in America for about 30 min. because there is SUBWAY here in Santiago. (just for you Adam, I took a picture) It was so SO YUMMY and they played U2.

America. 

I am still trying to adjust to everything. My area is so big and I feel like there is not enough time to learn it. Also being a leader here we do a lot more things that I was never trained to do in Oran. the most boring.....we have to verificar the weekly planning session of every hermana. We literally sit there for 3 hours and watch them do everything and then give them feedback....my oh my...hahah 

Have a great week love you all! 

Hermana Allen

Whelp this week was very interesting . I think I calculated that I spent more than 25 hours in collectivo this week. I had to travel to my new area and then we had to travel to Salta and back for consejo de lideres. hahah 

My first impressions of my new area:

1. THE MEMBERS ARE AWESOME. Everyone calls me hija and already knows my name. Every family asks what I want to eat and then makes it for me. (I’ve lost all hope to not gain weight here) 

2.  IT IS HUGE. We practically don’t even walk. We have to take buses everywhere all like 20 min in a bus from each other.

3. MY APARTMENT IS CHETO. It’s two stories. I have a washing machine that actually washes the clothes. I’m a happy camper. 

We might have a baptism this week of an 8 year old but we will see. We are also teaching a woman really great! Her son took his life and she is as you can imagine not very good emotionally but loves when we come over! She wants to get baptized but still can’t even leave the house.....so we just have to have paciencia with her. 

One thing that made me sad

Well this is one of the nicer areas I’ve been in. Almost everyone has a house with tile compared to dirt floors. There have been many times on my mission were I have wanted to cry because of the poverty that we see. But yesterday.....killed me. We went to a neighborhood where the people are more humble and literally in the middle of the neighborhood is a dump. Trash everywhere and there is a little walkway to cross through the garbage to get to one of our investigatores house.  As we were walking I saw a little hut made of Sticks and a family watching TV, but not all the family could fit inside so the parents had to watch outside the house IN THE MIDDLE OF A DUMP. We have to be so grateful for the things we have. 

Hope everyone has a great week! I’m also thinking about you and praying for you!

LOVE 

Hermana Allen 

9 de Julio, Santiago de estero

Whelp I’m being transferred! Yikes! I’m literally going from the mas norte parte to the mas south of the mission. Literally its 12 hours from here (Oran) hahah. Santiago is also the HOTTEST place you can go hahah but really I’m so excited! Now I will know ALL of the provincias de la mission! I hear so many great things about Santiago so I am happy! Can you believe this is my final area! How crazy life is!!! WAY TOO FAST. 

I loved general conference. it was so good! I loved the spirit I felt and I also loved how they focused mucho in missionary work Saturday! Mom I loved the very same talk that you liked! I literally shed a few tears feeling so grateful for the mission and everything I have learned about the atonement and I also loved the talk about service on Sunday! I just felt the spirit so much telling me that what I am doing is good and that heavenly father is proud of me. 

I watched it on Saturday in Spanish and Sunday in English. It was funny literally all of us gringos were watching it in a closet with a tiny little TV, but man its just so much better to hear the voices of the speakers it makes it so much more powerful. 

Also Imanol came to conference with his perfect family and he also came wearing a white shirt and tie and it made me so so happy. Also in the photos we ate ASADO with this family that I adore. They are menos activos but have been retuning to church ever since I’ve been here with Hermana Melo. It has been 4 months since I’ve had asado! I WAS SO EXCITED. Then, Sunday Tia Maria came to me crying because she was sad I was leaving. It touched me so much. She then passed me a small little bag with a new skirt in it. I could just feel her love so much, but more importantly I felt the love the Savior has for her. That’s the hard part about transfers. After you served a group of people for a while your have an amor profundo for them, making it so hard to leave. 

I’m sure ill have a whole bunch to tell about my new area. and yes mom, I am still Hermana Lider. Oh and my new comp is Hermana Gonzalvez de Brasil! 

Have a great week! 

Love you all! 

Hermana Allen 

Enjoying Asado

Asado