June 30, 2014

This week has been great and long. Hit my half way mark in my mission.

Monday we stopped in the mission office twice because President Bell wasn't there the first time. Then we went to the West Link Building and played dodge ball with the other missionaries. Then we had dinner with the Lawrence family. Then Brother Lawrence came out with us to try some of his home teaching families.

Tuesday we had time to work in Wellington and Oxford, Kansas. We were able to have a great day training families and visiting several less active families. Then we viewed the apartment for the adult couple which is coming in to the Wellington Ward. Then we had dinner with the Maxwells. They took us out to a BBQ place and had great dinner. During this time a great storm came so we took time to talk so the storm could pass. Then we had a fun time driving home because of the water.

Wednesday we had time to weekly plan and talk about our ward and what we can do to help it. Then we went by a potential investigator we meet on Tuesday. She had left a note for us on her door because she was sick. It is nice to have someone that can’t meet leave you a note instead of not show up when you meet. Then we had dinner with the Rinehart family. The are a fun family to eat with because the have several children and we have breakfast at their house.

Thursday we had a district meeting in Wichita. We meet as a zone first and talked about the goals for this week and what we got last week. Then we had district meeting. I got the opportunity to give a 5-minute training about diligence and obedience.  This was nice to study about this because this is what we needed to work on in our companionship.  Then we stopped off in the mission office to get the paper work done for the Apartment. Elder Black gave us a cheek for the apartment and we were able to pay for the apartment that night and get the keys. Then we had dinner with Sister Mcok in our ward. She is out in Harper, Kansas, about an hour from Wellington.

Friday was a slow day. Elder Shaeffer was sick so we were not able to get out. I was able to work on the area book and get my journal up to date. It was a long day.

Saturday we went down to Caldwell and had lunch with a less active family. Then we had time to visit less active families down there and have fun tracing the small town. Then we went out with Brother Johnson our 2nd counselor in our bishopric.  We were able to see 3 less active families with him. 

Sunday we had ward council and church. Church was small because Bishop was out of town and a few other were also out of town. Then we had 5th Sunday meeting about the technology that the church is using. Like LDS.org and Family search and all of the Face book sites. Then we went out to Harper and saw several families on our home teaching route.

The Wellington Ward has about 15 active priesthood members and lots of active women with their kids. We have 3 Aaronic priesthood holders and several with 0 Young woman. We had a high councilman from our ward and a small primary with 15 to 25 kids.  

Thanks for all the mail and emails. I had a great week.

Love Elder Andrew Allen

June 23, 2014

This week has been great. I am doing great out here. I am liking the ward.

Monday we had dinner with the Brundage family. They are the family we live with.

Tuesday we had a District and Zone meeting. We first started out as the district and followed up on the zones results for the last week. Then we talked about what we can do as missionaries in the Wichita zone to help the mission with 50 baptisms. We are at 23 baptisms as of Tuesday morning.  Then we separated in to the Districts and had District Meetings. Then we had lunch and then left back for Wellington. We were able to have a church tour before the Relief Society Meeting and explain what we teach our investigators and challenged them to invite someone to take a church tour.

 

Wellington Sunset

Wednesday we went on a hunt for an apartment in Wellington for the senior missionaries that are coming on July 1. We had very little luck finding an apartment. We the visited less actives and had dinner with the Rinehart family. They are a fun family because they have kids that are older and like to talk and pick on their siblings.

Thursday we breakfast with the Brundage and their grandchildren. Also looked again for an apartment.  No luck finding one that will work. We also had time to go down the home teaching list and visit families that have not been visited in the last quarter. Then we had dinner with the Lawrence family in our ward. Brother Lawrence was able to come out with us after dinner. We also were able to get a rental car because our car has a recall on the front axel. We got a Ford Focus 2104 to drive.

Friday we called a lot of people asking if they had an apartment available. Then we went out to work on the Home Teaching list. Then we had s’morrs with the Brundage when we got back at night.

Saturday we took time to visit the towns we don't see lots. Went to the border of Kansas and Oklahoma. Then we had dinner by our self's. We used the Brundage’s kitchen to cook.

Sunday we had church. We had 3 less active family come and one family visiting a non member in our ward boundary. We ended up having 70 people at church this week. Then we had a ward Pot Luck and time to visit with the less actives.

This week has been great. Lots of less active work and apartment finding. Today one of the apartment owners called us back and might have a place ready by the first.

Thanks for everything.

Love,

Elder Andrew Allen

June 16, 2014

This week has been long.

Monday I packed and got the area book ready to leave the area.

Tuesday we spent time cleaning the apartment and the area book. We spent 3 hours cleaning the area book and organizing the teaching records. Elder Howell is training a new missionary so he wants it to be clean and up to date. Then we had dinner with Brandon Trevino. We played soccer with him. Then we went to the Siefkes to have a picture.

Wednesday we drove down to Wichita. In Wichita we had a transfer devotional and a music fest called  "KWM Folk Music Fest" where different missionaries performed their original songs for us. Then Elder Shaffer and I left for Wellington. We live a hour from Wichita so we had a fair drive. Then we had dinner with the members we live with. The Brumages live in Argonia about 30 miles from Wellington. The church building is in Wellington.

Thursday we tried to contact a referral that ended up not in our area but we were able to contact Francen a friend of a member in Topeka. It ended up that she is a friend with the Craft family that was in the Lake Shawnee ward in Topeka. We had a great day traveling to a few of our small towns.

Friday we had zone training in Wichita. We had a great meeting about our mission goal of 50 baptisms in June. This is a great goal for our mission because we have only had a max of 30 baptisms. Then we had zone lunch and a zone picture.  Then we went back to Wellington to have dinner and work. At 8 pm president bell called and told Elder Shaffer to go and get his tick bite looked at so we ended up traveling back to Wichita. We ended up staying the night at our district leaders house in Wichita because we got out of the ER at 10pm.

Wichita Zone

Saturday we drove home and got ready. Elder Shaffer got sick so we stayed home all day. I got my journal up to date. 

Sunday we had church.  We ended being late to church. Our car had only 50 miles to drive before it was empty.  We meant to fill up the car on Saturday but we never went back out so we forgot. Church we great. The ward is very small and I am the Elders Quorum President and Elder Shaffer is the Ward Mission Leader. Then we had dinner with Bishop Porter and his wife. Then we were able to have a great day and we made it home safe with just the right amount of gas to get home.

Sunset in Wellington

Thanks for all the emails and mail. Thanks for every thing.

Love,

Elder Andrew Allen

June 9, 2014

This week has been slow and fun. This Wednesday I am get transferred to Wellington, Kansas. This week we have done lots of things to update the ward and the area book before I leave the area.

Monday we emailed then we went up to Hays to spend time with the district. We took our Nerf guns and had a war in a member’s basement in Hays. There were 8 of us in a large basement with 170 shots and lots of Nerf guns.  We had several wars and fun time. Then we came back to Great Bend to have dinner with the Solie family. The Solie family is a nice and wonderful family in our ward. We were able to also do some service for them when we were out at there house.

Tuesday we took the Ford Fusion in to the body shop. It will be in for several weeks to fix the trunk and key marks. Then we went to the bike shop to fix Elder Howells bike and then we went to Wal-Mart to get money back. On Monday we bought food and Elder Howell got a camera holder. When he put in his coins and cash it did not take it off of his bill. The self-checkout charged the whole amount to his card, an extra 31 dollars. We ended up having to come back. Management had to watch the video so they would know we put money into the self-checkout before they gave us money back. We had dinner with the Trevino family.  After dinner we had a nice discussion with Brandon and Crystal.

Wednesday I had a doctor appointment. Spent lots of time in the doctor’s office. Next we weekly planning. Then we went and tried to see Judy but she was not home. Then we went to Wal-Mart to talk with management about the money. They were able to watch the video and gave Elder Howell back his 31 dollars. Then we had dinner with the Spanish elders then we cleaned out all of the junk in the house.

Thursday Elder Jacobson had exchanges with us. I went with Elder Gonzalez back to Hays while Elder Howell stayed with Elder Jacobson.  We went through Russel and we stopped to say hi to the Russel sisters that are in our district. Then we had appointment in Hays and then dinner with the Slonie family, then we had time to see some of their investigators.

Friday we had district meeting in Hays. Then we came back to Great Bend to go to Larned. In Larned we had a lesson with a family with Sister Douglas and found few new investigators and had fun. There was a carnival in Larned that we were able to contact many people.

Saturday we had a Stake Priesthood Meeting. Brother Hudson was able to take us to Salina. They talked lots about our covenant we make when we are given the priesthood. Then the Stake President meet with just us elders after the meeting before he had to meet with the high council.

Sunday we had a full church. We biked to church today. There were lots of less actives at church. Then we had lunch and worked on the area book. Then Elder Stopper stopped in to help Elder Howell and I for our new assignments this next transform. This was nice to have the old AP stop in and train you before he left his mission.

Monday we helped a member in the ward move. It rained the whole time we were moving.

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

 Love Elder Andrew J Allen

June 2, 2014

This week has been slow. Lots of canceled appointments.

Monday we had P-Day in Salina. The zone leaders gave us more miles to drive up there. We spent the whole day with the zone. We played Nerf and basketball and soccer. This was fun to spend time with other missionaries than the ones in Great Bend.

Tuesday we had interviews with President Bell. I was the first one in the Salina Zone. This was nice to talk to him and see what I can do to help me on my mission. Then we had district meeting and District Lunch. Then we emailed for last week and then went shopping.

Wednesday we went to the bike shop to fix Elder Howell's bike and Elder Acosta. Elder Acosta flew over his handlebars when he looked at a car full of girls. When he did this he messed up his rim really bad.  Then we had weekly planning. We then we over and helped Alex, Judy’s husband with his car. He needed to replace his thermostat in his car. Between Elder Howell and I we were able to find out were it was and how to get it replaced. 

Thursday we went to Lyons.  Brother Berkheimer came out with us all day. We visited Becky Hicling and several other less active members. Then the Berkheimer took us out to eat for dinner. Then we visited Judy and Judy when we got back to Great Bend.

Friday we went to Larned. We were able to contact a referral and potential people out of the area book and also see others had we taught. We had dinner with the Philips family. The food we at was meat loaf. This meat loaf had a egg and a banana in it. Also it was not cooked all the way. It was bight red inside when it was served to us. Friday night we spent time in the McMillan's helping them pack and get every thing ready for Saturday. Us Elders got permission to sleep in their shed from the AP. So Friday night we spent the night at the McMillan's house and were able to help them right in the morning.

 

Elder Acosta, Elder Grow, Elder Allen, Elder Howell, The McMillans

Saturday morning we helped the McMillan's pack their trailer and clean the house. Then we packed up our stuff and left back for Great Bend. Then we went to the ER because Elder Grow could not breath because of his allergies, then we had dinner with Brother Voss and went to sports night. Had fun with some of the Spanish Elder’s investigators.

Sunday was fast Sunday. Lots of kids bore their testimony. It was great to hear from the primary. Then we saw Brandon and Judy and Judy’s Family and had a Great Night.

Thanks for the mail and letters.

Love Elder Andrew Allen