Dec 16, 2013

I am staying in the Lake Shawnee ward for another 7 weeks.

This week has been very long and lots of meeting and ward events.

Monday we had good time with the missionaries in the area. We did a $5 gift party. I took a box of band-aids and in the end got a pair of gloves. This was fun to see what people found in their apartments or at the store.

Mars Plant

Tuesday we to the zoo and helped in the rain forest. Then we had several lessons and went down south with Brother Scerbo. One of the members we saw on Tuesday had not come to church for about 2 weeks because she was sick. When we got there she thanked us for coming because she needing a blessing before her operation on Thursday. This was nice to see how us missionaries felt that we need to visit her and she was wanting someone to come to give her a blessing. 

Wednesday we traveled to Manhattan for a meeting and lunch with our mission president.  This meeting started at 1 pm for all the zones. The Saline zone had interviews before the meeting. The drive from Topeka to Manhattan is about an hour.  Brother Broz from our ward drove a 15-passenger van down with us missionaries in it. It was nice that he would take time out of his day to drive us and stay to take us back. In this meeting we had a testimony meeting and lunch and a few games. One game was to act out an event from the Book of Mormon or missionary life and get you district leader to get it right. After all this we finally got to the church building at 6 pm 

Thursday we had interviews for the Topeka zone.  The Lake Shawnee district and other missionaries that live in Topeka had interviews after 12 pm. President Bell was ruining late on the interviews and we did not leave the church building until 5 pm. My interview with President Bell was nice. He talked about the area and how I was doing and the things I can do to help the investigators in the area. After interviews one of the assistants took Elder Arend and me to Walmart. Elder de Leon needed to get an anniversary card and flowers for President Bell because his anniversary was on Thursday. This was fun to see 3 elders in suits getting flowers. Then we had a lesson with Dale and Shawn. They are learning lots. Their mother and grandmother read with them every night. They also study out of Preach my Gospel a few times a week.   

Topeka Zone - November

Friday we had a ward party. This ward party was nice because lots of less active members came to the party. There was lots of food and tons of desserts. It was nice to get to see the ward members fellowship the less active members of the ward. 

Saturday was the day of service. First we helped the Paz family fix the gutter and trim boards outside of their house. Then Matt Davis picked us up to help him with his outside siding. About year ago they found that their roof was not shingled properly.  They then had to redo the siding and 2 by 4s and the roof. This was a big problem. They are finally getting it all done. He needed help and ideas to fix the outside. So we talked and got one board up and the siding started for him. This was nice for us to have time to help people in our ward. Then before we went home Katie Davis gave us some jerky from the buck. Then we got to see the buck’s rib cage. See picture. They then feed it to their pigs. 

Sunday we had church. Our investigators did come to church. Elder Arend gave a talk and we had great time at our dinner. Our dinner lives down south about an hour. This was the second time going that far south in our ward. 

This week has been cold and snow last Sunday and Monday. I am staying warm with the jacket. Thanks Brother Phelps. We can us Skype to call home. Thanks for the gifts from all of the family. 

I love you all.

Elder Andrew J Allen.