March 31, 2014

This week has been long. Everyone we were teaching except 2 families has dropped us. We were sick and had exchanges.

Monday we had p-day. Then we went over to the Sheffields for dinner. After dinner the family and us missionaries played a few games. All of these games involved a missionary getting wet. Elder Acosta and Elder Grow both got wet. We all had fun.

Tuesday Elder Nelson and I got up in the night and were both sick. We got food poisoning. This was a long day. Only Elder Nelson and I got sick. The Spanish Elders and the Sheffields were all healthy all day. We stayed in bed all day and even attended district meeting through a conference call.

Elder Allen

Elder Nelson

Wednesday we were lots better. Elder Nelson was a not a 100 present better but able to go out and work. We were able to see several referrals and have a lesson with Jenifer Trevino’s family and have dinner at the Siefkes. The Spanish Elders we late to their house but we had a great time because this was our first big meal in 48 hours. Then after Dinner we went over to Cristina and Christal house for a lesson. We taught them about how to be truly converted to the Jesus Christ and following the commandments.

Thursday we had weekly planning.  After weekly planning we were able to have a lesson with Brandon and Jr. Then we had dinner and went out to find few less actives in the ward.

Friday we went on exchanges with our district leaders. I went up to Hays with Elder Gonzalez. Elder Nelson went with Elder Jacobson in Great Bend. In Hays we went and meet lots of members and less active members.

Saturday we exchanged back. Elder Nelson and I went on visiting less actives and having member motivation lessons. We meet some less actives that are so against the church they were not happy we know were they lived and even stopped by.

Sunday we had a fast Sunday and 5th Sunday all in one Sunday. We had 2 investigators at church and a lunch after church. This was a great Sunday. We also had a chance to talk with Bishop about the ward and what he would like us to do to help the members of the ward. We talked about helping the members build their faith so they can have a strong foundation in the gospel. We came up with 3 things members can do. First is family and personal scripture study. Second is praying as a family and personal. The final thing they need to do is go to church each week.

I hop all of you are doing great. I love each of you. Thanks for all the prayers and all the mail. Thanks for every thing. Hope all of you remember to read the Book of Mormon and pray and go to church.

Love

Elder Andrew J Allen

March 24, 2014

This week has been great. We had lots of lessons and lots of driving.

Monday we had the car shooting. About 7:30 am in Great Bend, Kansas there were 3 shots fired. This was out side our apartment. Elder Nelson and I did not think any thing about it. Then at 10 am when we went out to our car we found that our car was shot. This round would have gone into our window of our bedroom if we did not have the car. The trunk of the 2014 Ford Fusion now has a hole through the trunk and through the wheel well.  The two other shots hit another car and the neighbor’s door.

Tuesday fill out the incident report and all the paper work for the church involving the mission car. We helped Elder Farnsworth pack and get ready to leave the ward. We had dinner with Brother Schwinn and also visited with Cristina Trevino’s Family.  We had a lesson about reading the Book of Mormon and praying before hand. The Spanish Elders left for Wichita a 6:30 pm to make it to transfers on Wednesday.

Wednesday we did not have the car but we had weekly planning and worked on our area book. Then we went over and visited with Brandon Trevino. The Spanish Elders finally made it back to Great Bend after getting lost and driving slow. Elder Acosta is now with Elder Grow from The Mexico MTC.  We then were able to visit with Brother Crone and Brother Robinson. We then had a lesson about the Book of Mormon with Jenifer Trevino and family.

Thursday we had a day of trying referrals from the ward and also Salt Lake. Most of them were not home. We had dinner with the Hudson’s and also then had a great lesson with Brandon Trevino about forgiving and helping his family come back to church.

Friday we had district meeting in Hays. Sister Douglas drove us up to Hays. We had a great District Meeting. Then we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went With Elder Johnson and Elder Nelson Went with Elder Nye. Elder Johnson and I went to Saline for the day.  We had a great member take us out for dinner. We were able to talk about the Book of Mormon and the history and similarity with the history of the Egyptians. The zone leaders stay with the Smiths in their ward. Sister Amy Smith was a Jensen from Mesa. Her parents live in the same ward as Grant Allen. This was funny to find some that knows a relative in Mesa.

Sunday we had Zone Leader stuff and paper work in the morning. Then after lunch we planned to meet the other elders in Holy-rood, Ks to exchanges back. Elder Nelson and Nye got lost on the way from Great Bend to Holy-rood. Also Elder Nye took our phone with him to Salina.

Sunday we had Wad conference. The Salina Stake Presidency came down and Brother Smith brought our phone back to us. President Knapp talked about how the family can help and be benefited by the church. This helped the members in our ward by talking about how church functions can help teach us and help our families. Then we had dinner with the Enfields. We talked about seminary and family home evening and family scripture study. Before dinner we did not know what to talk about for our lesson and when we were riding with brother Enfield to his house we felt impressed to help the family with reading and praying and FHE as a family.

This week has been great. Thanks for all the prayers and letter.

Love Elder Andrew Allen

March 17, 2014

This week has been fun. Survived an armed shooting in Great Bend. Had interviews with President Bell and had 2 investigators at church.

Monday we had p-day. Emailed and shopped and washed the car. Then we had a lesson with Jenifer Trevino’s Family.

Tuesday we had weekly planning.  Then after weekly planning we went to visit with Brandon and Jr Trevino. We played ball with them and talked about the Book of Mormon. Then we went to follow up with Jenifer Trevino and family.

Then we had dinner with the Solies Family at the church.

Wednesday we had interviews with President Bell in Salina. We left Great Bend at 7:30 am and got to the church building in Salina about 9 am.  We had training by Elder Neeley about working with the unbaptized Youth and Part Member Families. Then President Bell interviewed all of the missionaries in the Flint Hills Zone. This was great to talk to President about the area and how I was. I learned a lot about why I am in Great Bend and how I can help Elder Nelson and the other missionaries in the district. We finally got back to Great Bend at 6 pm. We then had a dessert contest at the Siefkes. I made peanut-butter cookies.

Thursday we had a lot of biking. We had a lot of appointments cancel on us. We were able to see old investigators and referrals. Then we had dinner with the Brother Schwinn in Hoisington. 

Friday we had less luck with our appointments. We saw Brandon Trevino and Cristina and Crystal. Cristina is a member but has not come to church in the last few years. Crystal is her friend and is not a member. She has been reading and studying the Book of Mormon.

Saturday we helped the Shelfield family move 2 miles down the street. This was a nice move. They had every thing ready and coordinated with the ward to have several trucks there to help. There was lots of manpower and lots of space. We then went to Lyons and had several lessons. The Berkhimers feed us dinner.

Sunday we had church.  We had 2 investigators at church and several less active at church. Brandon and Christina and Crystal all came to church. This was great time because they stayed the whole time. They learned a lot and felt the spirit. After Church we had studies and updated our area book. Then we went had dinner with the Spanish Elders.  Then we went to Jenifer Trevino and followed up on their reading.

Then Monday, today, about 7:30 am in Great Bend, Kansas there were 3 shots fired. This was out side our apartment. Elder Nelson and I did not think any thing about it. Then at 10 am when we went out to our car we found that our car was shot. This round would have gone into the window of our bedroom if we did not have the car. The trunk of the 2014 Ford Fusion now has a hole through the wheel well. We had to call the police and have them come and fill out a report. They then found the two other shots. One hit another car and the other hit the neighbor’s door. They have not found the shooter yet but no one got hurt in this incident. Thanks for all the prayers.

Love,

Elder Andrew J Allen.

PS can I have another pair of the shoes sent to me in Great Bend Kansas. and Happy Birthday Mom.

March 10, 2014

This week has been great. We had a member of the Quorum of the

Twelve Apostles come and talk to the missionaries in the Kansas Wichita Mission.

Monday we had p-day. Then we went and talked to Brother Rea. We talked about the church and his life.

Tuesday we had district meeting in Hays. Brother Voss in the ward drove us to and back from Hays. In district meeting we talked about how we need to help our investigators and be bold but not push them to baptism.  The zone leaders were also there at the meeting. We then go back to Great Bend at 4. We then went over to see Brandon Trevino and follow up on how he was reading the Book of Mormon.

Hays District

Wednesday we had weekly planning. Then after Weekly planning we went to see Edwin Roberts. He was not home.  We were able to have dinner at the Siefkes. We had smoothies and sandwiches. Elder Acosta and Elder Nelson and Kjersti Carlton all made smoothies for us to try. After dinner we went to Jenifer Trevino and follow up on how they are reading the Book of Mormon.

Thursday we had a day of finding and following up with the members and investigators we are teaching. Elder Nelson back was hurting him so we took part of the day to rest his back.  We were also able to prep for a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles coming to the mission.

Friday we traveled to Wichita to meet with Elder David A. Bednar.  We left Great Bend at 10 am and got home at 9 pm. It was one long day.  Elder Bednar came to the Derby Stake to preside at Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday he had time open and felt like he need to meet and talk with the missionaries in the mission. The mission office arranged for all of the missionaries to travel from across Kansas to Wichita. Some missionaries got to ride in a bus and some drove their cars. The mission feed us lunch then at 1pm we had a mission picture.

Elder David A. Bednar

  

Elder Bednar decided to start the meeting early, and walked in with President Bell and Elder Deshler of the Seventy. The first hour and a half consisted of him asking missionaries to stand up and share what they learned from three of his talks he had asked us to read in the weeks prior to his visit. Then he demonstrated to us how to teach using mostly inspired questions. Then with the remaining two hours of the meeting we had a question-and-answer type sessions where they just open up the floor and answer our questions.  It was really amazing because he asked everyone a simple question at the beginning that prevented people from asking any weird and unimportant things: "Think about it: if this is your one chance to ask a question to a prophet, seer, and revelator, is that REALLY the question you want to ask?"  We all learned lots from Elder Bednar and had a great time.

I even learned a few new doctrines that I had never heard of before. I also received several commitments from him. He committed us to never give a prepared talk again. He taught us that when you are assigned to talk, you spend the time you have before hand just studying out the subject. And when you get up you share what you learned and listen to the spirit.  Sometimes you may feel inspired to talk about several different things that seem totally unrelated. But, if you were listening to the Spirit, that means you talked about the things that people needed to hear the most. He shared a story about President Eyring. When Elder Bednar was the president of BYU Idaho Elder Eyring was the church commissioner of education and spoke frequently at the University. He would set up shop at Elder Bednar's home or in an office and just type out tons of different talks. At the time for the devotional he would say, "I have prepared 20 different talks, and I don't know which one I'm supposed to give." Then he would get up to speak, set all the talks aside, and not touch them or read from them for the entire devotional. Another time President Packer of the Twelve was sitting on the stand at a stake conference. He asked the Stake President if he had prepared notes for his talk. The Stake President said yes. Elder Packer asked to see them, put them in his own pocket and said, "Today you will speak from the heart."

Another thing he committed us to do was to never take notes in a church meeting again. He said to pull out a pen and paper, but never to write down what the speaker said. Only write down the things that aren't said out loud.

Finally he said that if each family would go after church and visit a less active family we would see 25 percent more people at church.

Then on Saturday we had a day of contacting people and visiting members. We had dinner with the Spanish Elders.

Sunday we had church. We had a fast and testimony meeting because church was canceled last Sunday. We had about 85 people at church. We had a few members show up a hour late because of the day light savings time. We had 2 investigators at church and few less actives.

This has been a great week. Thanks for all the prayers and all of the mail.

Love,

Elder Andrew Allen.

 

Elder Bartholomew, who trained Elder Pack, who trained Elder Allen.

March 3, 2014

These last few days have been cold. It is about 15 outside and -20 with the wind chill. There has been 3 in of snow in the last 2 days. It has been really cold the last few days in Great Bend.

Monday we had P-day. We spent the time Emailing and playing games and shopping. Then Elder Nelson and I went to visit with Brother Rea. We had a great lesson on the Mormon Battalion.

Tuesday we had District Meeting. Sister McCowan was able to drive us out to Hays. We left our house at 9 am to drive to Sister McCowan’s house. At District Meeting we talked about using the members we have in our wards to help us in our work. We have members that can drive us and go out on team ups and also help fellowship with our Investigators. This was a great District Meeting. Then Sister McCowan took us out to lunch. Then we made the trip to Great Bend / Pony Rock.  We got back to Great Bend about 4:45. We had 15 min before Brother McMillan came to pick us up at The Spanish elder’s house.  Then we had dinner with the McMillans. After dinner we had Spanish class for any members of the ward. No one came but we still had it with the McMillans. Then we had cake and left Larned to go home.

Wednesday we had weekly planning. Then after weekly planning we went out to see our investigators. We tried to find Sam but no luck. We were not able to get into the Trevino to talk with Brandon because they were not feeling well.  We then had dinner with the other Trevino family. Jennifer Trevino, her family, grandma and us all went out to eat at Apple Bees for Grandma Trevino birthday.

Thursday we biked all around town. It was very nice day to bike. It was in about 40 outside. We then talked to Brandon and his aunt Christina Trevino.

Brandon is a less active staying with his aunt’s house for about half a year to see his grandma and have time with his relatives.  We then went to find Sam again at the trailer park in town. We finally found out what trailer he was in but he was sick. We were happy that we found him. Then we had dinner with the Perez family in Larned.

Friday we also road our bikes. We were able to see a lot of less actives and recent  investigators.   We were also having Brother Robinson from the ward come with us to visit his sister and wife which are not members. We had a great lesson about temples with Sister Robinson. Then we had dinner with the Spanish elders at Subway. Then we were called by one of our investigators to come to his church and be in their study group. We talked about faith and how we can gain this faith in our life. This was a great group of kids at church talking about the gospel on a Friday night.

Saturday we went to Lyons. Brother Berkheimer came and got us and also went with us to Bishop Bates house to have a lesson and get cupcakes for Elder Acosta Birthday.  Then we went tracting to less actives and recent  investigators but no one let us in.  It was very cold and snow was falling. After 3 hours we then went to dinner with the MacArthurs. Then Brother Berkheimer took us home.

Sunday we had no church. They canceled church because the icy roads and the snow.  It was Elder Acosta Birthday. Spent most of the day in side because it was 0 out side with a wind chill of -30. We were able to see Sam but we learned that he is moving back to Iowa to be with his family.

 

Elder Acosta and Elder Farnsworth

This week has been long and fun. We had nice days at the first the cold day and snow at the end. Hope all of you are safe and warm. Thanks for every thing.

Love Elder Andrew Allen

The first picture is the 2014  Ford Fusion and snow.

The second is Elder Farnsworth and Acosta