Week 11 10/12/15-10/18/15

Monday

Pday. Shopping. And such. Oh and soccer. I won.

Tuesday

We had president interviews today! That's was a lot of fun. While we weren't in talking to president, we were able to listen to the APs teach us about our missions and the purpose that we were sent to Houston. It was amazing to be in. The Spirit was so strong! After Interview Training, we went out and contacted a bunch of people! It was amazing! Then that night, we went and did some service for a member. We helped move a tree house, which was awesome! It's cool what a few extra hands can move!

Wednesday

We spent most of today calling members and trying to set up a bunch of appts throughout the next week. That was super good. We were able to talk to a lot of people, most of them less active or part member families!

After spending most of the afternoon calling people and cleaning out our phone, we decided to go out and contact. Because it's week 11, I (as the greenie) got to lead out the area. So I decided to go contact a bunch of people. So that's what we did. I had no idea where to go, so I just prayed the entire time. And I took turns when I got an answer. After quite a few turns and a half hour later of turning and turning back around. We turned down this one road, and there was a guy coming outside. He is a Chinese delivery guy who was in the middle of getting back in his car after delivering something. We contacted him and handed him a BoM. He started telling us about how he's always wanted one and how the the last missionaries didn't give one or explain where it came from to him, and that's what he wanted. So that's what we did. Super cool!

Fast forward 5 minutes and we'd moved down the street. There was a fellow out rebuilding an old motorcycle. We stopped and talked to him for quite a while! He was a super nice guy! We ended up teaching him the Resto and we also gave him a BoM. It was super cool and awesome!

Prayer works! And it can help you through anything!

Thursday

Today was another testimony building day! We were just out contacting, cause you know, nothing else to do... And we actually have to be doing something in order for the Lord to work through us. So that's what we were doing! We were biking through this one area by the church and there was a black family outside! They were super nice. We know that cause we talked to them. We end up teaching them about the Resto. And we gave them all copies of the BoM! Lots of fun.

We then went down south to try another potential investigator and he wasn't home. Go figure. So we said another prayer to remember who we need to try in the area. We had two people come to mind. One was down the street and the other was around the corner. We decided to try the one down the street. As we were biking down the street she drove off in a car, going the other way. Obviously not her. So we went to the other one. She wasn't home either. So we stood in her driveway for a few seconds scratching our heads when another black family came outside across the street. They started putting up Halloween decorations and we biked across the street and asked if we could help, which they said yes to. Long story short, we ended up teaching them the Resto! And they accepted a few copies of the BoM. Super cool!

Friday

ZL exchanges. We had Elder Otterson with us. He came with us and we had a bunch of lesson set up from our day of calling members. He is a brilliant missionary and has a lot of offer us and he knows how to teach also. Every experience was a learning experience with him.

Amazing. We went and taught a bunch of members and asked for referrals from them. Did t get too many, but it was good. Definitely a learning experience.

Saturday

Today was filled with service for a member. They were moving and we were able to help them move! Lots of fun and it helped us develop relationships with some members.

Sunday

J came to church! Remember the one that came last week? Yep, same one. We haven't been able to teach him cause he's been super busy, but he said he liked church enough to come back next week. So he's totally going to keep coming to church! Super lots of fun! After church we biked a long ways. We were biking for a long time and we averaged about 20mph(estimation) cause I don't actually know. But we were moving really fast and my legs still hurt(Monday). We also did a lot of service last night too. We helped another family pack up to move, they are moving to St. George. That's about it for this week.

I ate pancakes almost everyday. That's a lot of pancakes.

-Elder Allen

Week 10 10/5/15-10/11/15

Monday

Pday! Yay! Lots of fun. Basketball. Email. Basketball. Soccer. More basketball. And piano.

Tuesday

I am with Elder Dominguez today. We are on exchanges. He came out with me and I don't know who decided to put two greenies together. We haven't a clue really what's going on. But we were able to go out and start biking around and talking to people. The other side of Beaumont is really ghetto. There are a lot of drug stops, you can just tell. It's super poor and impoverished and there are a lot of Black people there. We ate dinner at Taco Bell, saw a few people, knocked on a few houses, but weren't having any success at all.

Wednesday

I made pancakes again this morning. They were really good! I'm starting to wonder why I'm getting fat...;)

We went back and saw that lady the we scared the dickens out of. Actually we didn't talk to her. We talked to her not so happy and mostly angry and fuming husband... He 'kindly' told us to get off his porch and never come back. But we said sorry, so our debt has been paid. It's all better now. Cept for the fact that he doesn't have the Gospel in his life...

Thursday

We had a really successful day today! We were able to teach quite a few lessons to investigators and street contacts alike! It was a lot of fun! We ran into this one guy, his name was Steve, and started teaching him a lesson. About halfway through we found out that he was a history teacher, which was cool. But we were able to tell him about the BoM and the origin of the American Indians and it totally made sense to him! He is a plane nut too, like me, and we got into a discussion about planes and WWII and stuff like that...;) kinda hard to not to with someone that likes it more than me. He's been to museums around the country and knows so much. He's never been to the one at Hill, but he was telling me all about the history of the B24 and such. It was a lot of fun stuff;)

We also taught K again today and finally found out what's holding her back from being baptized. She's been taking the lessons for two years now and doesn't believe the Joseph Smith had a vision... The missionaries just never taught her that. We were able to help her with that concern and helped her realize that if the BoM is true, then Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son. So it was a really good lesson!

Friday

We were busy teaching lessons yesterday, so we didn't get to weekly planning. So we did it today after District Meeting! District meeting was way good! It was about planning with the Spirit and it was a lot of fun! We were able to take what we learned in District Meeting and apply it to our weekly planning.

Tonight we were biking around and decided to stop and talk to this one guy who was standing outside smoking a cigarette. It's about 8:00 ish and this guy is standing on the corner smoking. He has a pony tail. But something told us to stop, cause normally I wouldn't do that. So we stopped. Half an hour later, he's promised to read the BoM, pray about it, come to church and possibly be baptized... Crazy how that works, huh? His name is Johnny and he is part Native American, he has had contact with missionaries before, but never really talked to them. He loaded us up with water bottles (cause we're still biking, ya know) and told us that he'd see us on Sunday. We will see what happens I guess...

Saturday

We had a bunch of lessons planned. We stopped at the first one. Not home. So we knocked some doors in the area. Then we went to the next lesson. He totally forgot and was leaving just then, so we knocked more doors. And so on all day long. It was frustrating.

We did have a lesson though with a less active family all the way out in China...(it's a little town, not like the one with billions of people) We've been working with this family for a while now and they come to church every once in a while, which is why we've been working with them. We had a good lesson and they said that they would be at church tomorrow!

Sunday

Fast Sunday!!! Which means no pancakes...:( it's sad. I like pancakes. I've finally realized how much pancake stuff I've gone through and decided I should probably lay off a little bit... 

We went to church today and to our surprise, J (remember the guy from Friday night?) showed up! Just kinda out of the blue! So we sat with him and he asked lots of questions and he loved it! He said he couldn't make it to all 3 hours today, but he's going to try to make it to all 3 next week! Heck ya! We finally have an investigator that actually coming to church, first one since R, who was baptized last transfer. J had a really cool experience with Sacrament Meeting because it was Fast and Testimony meeting and he got to hear a lot of the members bear powerful testimonies about a living prophet and such. It's amazing how everybody says just the right thing. The members were fantastic in coming over to introduce themselves to him and inviting him back next week! It was an amazing experience!

Remember how yesterday we had a bunch of lesson planned, but they all fell through cept one? Yep. Same thing today. I love that so much. We went from having  

-Elder Allen

Week 9 9/28/15-10/4/15

Monday

Pday! We played bball at the church. Surprise! Then we went to dinner with our recent convert, they have us over basically every Monday for dinner and FHE. Dinner is always amazingly good and we love to go over there. This week we had French Toast and bacon and eggs and biscuits and donuts and juice. It was so good!

Anyway, we got back to the apt complex and there was a lady in the parking lot outside. She is staggering around the parking lot, plastered drunk. We were just about to go inside when she kind of weaves her way over to us and starts asking us what's going on in her life. We have no idea what's going on. So we took her home to the other side of the parking lot where her dad lives. But yep... First real encounter with a drunk person.

Tuesday

We spent most of today knocking doors. It rained most of the day, but it didn't rain too hard. After an afternoon of contacting, we decided to head home for the night. As we were riding past the street of someone we had found the other day, we felt prompted to go see if she was home. We had tried for the last week to see if she was home, but her husband had gone into surgery and was out for,a,week and so she had been running the business for him. Well we followed the prompting and knocked on the door and to our surprise, she was home! We got to talking about stuff again and had a nice little lesson and chat on her door. As we were leaving, she asked if she could take a picture of us to send home. So we consented and she sent a picture to mom! Super nice lady and I'll remember her forever because of that. So mom, that's the other half of the story about the picture... And thanks for the pants! They're awesome and comfortable!

Wednesday

Again, contacting all day long. Crazy. In the apt, we picked out a few streets that we wanted to go and knock that day by praying and looking at a map. We went to the streets previously chosen and started knocking. First house. Nothing. Second house, nothing. Third house, nothing. And so on and so on. We got to about the 9th or 10th house and finally someone answers. We ask if we can share a message with him. He says yes and we go inside! First time that's really happened... We've shared messages on the doorstep, but never gotten inside anyone's house while knocking doors. And on top of that, we learned a slightly different way of contacting that we were trying out. My comp had turned to me and said previously that I was taking this door. I agreed. The first door I took charge of with the new form of contacting we were let in! Pretty dang cool! We were able to teach the Restoration and he said that he wanted us to come back and teach his entire family, cause he enjoyed it and wants to learn more about it! Super cool!

Thursday

We had a meeting with P today. It was a good lesson, but she still won't come to church! She's been reading though, but having a tough time understanding it. It was a super good lesson thought! We were able to teach her z lot about why the BoM is so important to her and what it means if it is true.

After the lesson, we had our weekly planning session. Basically, it's where we plan our goals for the upcoming week and make plans to accomplish those goals. Lots of fun stuff! 

We had a membership records committee tonight... Basically, we are helping the ward update their records which means that we have to go through and call everyone in the ward directory. It's a big task considering there are over 700 members in the area. And it's hard cause there are only about 150 active members. So we need to go through the area and find everyone that is still here and change those who have moved out. Those that we don't get an answer on the phone or the line has been disconnected, we have to make a home visit and see if we can get their information. But the home visits are phase two and we won't be starting that for a few weeks. And hey, I might be gone by then.

Friday

We had a super good district meeting this morning! They are always so uplifting and edifying! Think of how the Restoration of the Gospel has blessed your lives. Think about how different your life would be without it. Think of everything that you do have and understand because we have the restored Gospel on the Earth. Think of the Book of Mormon. Think of the priesthood. Think of eternal families. All of this comes because a 14 year old boy had a question. But not just that, he asked the question after he found out how to ask it. After he had studied it out and pondered about it. He asked with real intent, having a perfect and true desire to know how to proceed with his life. And because all of this happened, the Lord was able to restore His Gospel through this young boy who had so diligently pursued an answer to his question. Amazing, isn't it?

We went and did more service for Sister G. The shed rood that we helped move like my first week here? Well, yep. We are back to moving shed roofs. But only for fun, we pick them up and carry them,everywhere with the wind blowing super strong and all the while feeling like a sailboat;) I had my first taste of Persimmons though. It is a super sweet fruit that has the look of z tomato and the texture of a mango. Fun stuff!

Saturday

We got up early this morning and went over to the church and had a district breakfast before conference. I made pancakes for everyone. And they are super good! I love pancakes;)

Conference is amazing! Holy cow, those men are inspired! Conference is like Christmas for missionaries. You just get presents left and right. And all the presents are spiritual and amazing. I hope y'all got as much out of today's sessions as I did. Elder Oaks talk was amazing and I think that's the one the hit me super hard. I'm not going to spoil it, so go read it again! 

Before priesthood session, the ward and the Spanish branch had a potluck dinner together. We had bbq brisket and bluebell ice cream and a lot of desserts. Super amazingly good stuff. I didn't get to sit in the usual spot on the stage like back home, but the session was amazing. And there was no ice cream after, which was kinda strange. I miss going with Dad and Matthew and Scott and Kaden. Made for a strange night to be there alone... 

Sunday

Holy cow! Conference is still amazing! I got my mind blown like 8000 times! I've never paid this much attention to conference before. I wish that I had. I filled up 6 pages front and back with notes from all the sessions. Super good.

I ate another Carolina Reaper today. The Spanish branch had a luncheon between the sessions and everyone was doing it, so we joined in. It was a bigger piece than what I ate last time and it only made it worse. My extremities started going numb, that's when I decided that letting the snake bite you twice just to make sure it hurts is a bad idea. My eyes got a little bit bloodshot, I started coughing, and The rest of the day I thought I was going to throw up. It's a dang hot pepper. One of the Spanish branch people has a plant growing in his backyard, that's where we keep getting them. And Dad, I asked him if I could snitch a few to send home to you. I should get them sometime this weekend and they'll be in the mail next Monday. Try making some salsa with them... They'll wreck you for a while. The bigger the piece that you eat, the longer the burn lasts. And the chile doesn't bite just going in. It bites coming out too. 

-Elder Allen

Pancakes

Yep. That's what we ate this week. Pancakes.

-Elder Allen

Week 8 9/21/15-9/27/15

Monday

Pday! We were at the church most of the day playing soccer and basketball and emailing. Fun stuff. We had dinner tonight with our recent convert, R. Tonight they made poppyseed chicken for us and it was amazingly good! We had a good lesson with him as we taught the Restoration more in depth and applied it to his life as a recent convert. It was really cool!

Tuesday

Today we had a lesson with P. She's a super nice lady, but the lessons always end up being super long... We challenged her to be baptized, but she said no. She's the sweetest lady ever! We challenged her to come to church and she said that she wouldn't unless God specifically told her to come. That's about the extent of what happened today. That, and a lot of rejection. It seems like the more we knock, the more rejection comes. I think that it's like a law or something.

Wednesday

Sorry this weeks entries have been so short, we haven't had too much happen. A lot of doors are quickly shut after we introduce ourselves. We met someone tonight on the street next to the church. We were just leaving the church when we ran into this fellow outside. We started talking to him and we asked him if he'd ever been inside the church, which he answered not really. We asked him if he wanted to go inside the church and he said yes. So we walked with him to the church and gave him a church tour. We showed him everything from the organ in the chapel to the baptismal font. He thought it was awesome! Before we left, we all had a kneeling prayer in the relief society room and he felt something different. Then we found out he's YSA age. So we can't teach him, but what does it matter if he's getting baptized by us or the YSA missionaries? 

Thursday

We had weekly planning this afternoon. After that, we went out knocking doors. Basically every door was a no show, with a few that really didn't want to see us...;) we walked up to some guy in his garage and he looked at us and said, I'm catholic. My comp and I kinda looked at each other, cause in the past, that hasn't meant very much... Anyway I walked into this guys garage to shake his hand and my jaw dropped. The entire garage was filled with model planes. Filled. Full. Wings and fuselages and big and small with radios. Stacked against the wall, hanging from the ceiling, come to find out, he had 5 more bigger ones in the trailer. We got to talking, religion aside cause he didn't want any of that and I'm a sucker for planes, and I found out that he's part of a club down here and he flies about 3 times a WEEK. The model port is not even a mile down the road. He had been working to fit a motor into a sailplane when we showed up. We talked for probably a half hour about everything. Dad, he said that the next big thing is pure gasoline engines, not nitro anymore. Or electric. And he also said that the big planes aren't worth the money, unless you can find one for under $350 or so that's been crashed. Then you can fix it up and fly it, or if it's beyond repair, strip it for parts. Ps. I got a picture. But it's on my camera, not my iPad and I have no way of getting it over yet. We are still trying to find a computer.

We knocked doors till late tonight. The last door we knocked was at about 8:30. We usually stop before 8:00, cause after that it just gets dark and people don't open the door after dark here in Beaumont. We knocked on this door at about 8:20 and it was an all glass door. This was one of the nicer houses in the area. Anyway, we knock and this lady comes walking by. We think she is coming to answer the door, right? Cause we had already knocked and everything. Remember, it's an all glass door. She comes walking by and so we wave to her. Apparently, she didn't hear the knock... We wave and she screams and runs away. We kinda stood there not knowing what to do for a second. So we knock again, cause ya know, we want to get this straightened out. we can see her huddled up in a corner in her kitchen on the phone... She wasn't coming out of her corner anytime soon. We don't know who she was on the phone with, but we guess that it was her husband or the police. So we said a few prayers and left a sticky note on the door with our phone number and an explanation of who we were and what we were doing. She hasn't called yet... And I don't know if she will ever accept the gospel in the future...

Friday 

We tried going back to see her, but she wasn't home. But the sticky note was gone! We had a good district meeting today. All our appointments fell through today...again. Kinda sad, but it's ok. We were able to meet lots of nice people and introduce them to the Gospel. So it wasn't a bad day, just kind of slow. 

Saturday

Today we had a few miracles occur. The first one happened as we rode by this street and felt impressed that we needed to go knock some of it. So that what we did. After a few houses, we knocked into this guy named J. J has a pretty cool conversion story and we spent an hour talking about beliefs. He believes pretty much everything about Mormonism. We were able to find some common ground and teach him a little bit more about Mormons. J will do anything for God and his servants, it's amazing! Anyway, next miracle. We were trying A again this week. This is the Pentecostal guy I told y'all about a few weeks back. We haven't been able to get in touch with him for a few weeks now. Anyway, we bike up to his house and as we are walking up to the door he comes outside and sees us and says that he's got food cooking and that we needed to come inside and eat. He had been making biscuits and gravy. So the biscuits and gravy finished and as they are finishing, he's telling us how the sausage in the gravy is homemade from a boar he and his dogs killed last week... Go figure. Kinda cool and it tasted amazing! Then he gave us some sausage to take home. Next miracle. We have an appointment set up with K. Her husband is a member and so are about half of her kids. She's been taught for a few years now and just won't commit. We have a lesson about the blessings that come from baptism. After we committed her to pray for a baptismal date and to pick one in the next few months. She knows it's true, she just won't commit. She's seen the change in her husband, kids, and the Spirit of the house. The lesson brought the Spirit so powerfully, it was amazing. It was one of the best lessons that we've taught as a companionship. So we will see what happens.

Sunday

Got caught in a rainstorm. Again. Imagine that. It started raining when church started (9:00) and hasn't stopped yet (Monday morning, yes I'm typing this Monday morning cause we were too busy drying out last night) still raining. We went out at 5:00 last night to eat dinner with a family that invited us over for dinner. We were soaked by the time we got to their house. Then we went and gave K a blessing cause she hasn't been feeling to well and her husband asked us to come help and assist in a blessing. It was really cool to be a part of that. As I said, she knows it's true. And then we biked home, in the rain. Soaking wet. I have a video of me dumping water out of my shoes and wringing my socks out. Crazy stuff...

Earlier in the day, we were able to participate in a community event called "Pray for Beaumont" which is an event where everyone comes together and different preachers and pastors pray for Beaumont. It was strange. Eventually some of the missionaries got up and brought the Spirit, but it was strange to hear the rest of it. That's the first time I've actually seen black people preachers pray... I understand why Alma thought that the prayer of the Zoramites on the Rameumpton was so bad. There was just no spirit. It's amazing how the Spirit works, how one quiet prayer can invoke the Spirit only to have the next preacher destroy all peace amidst the chorus of hallelujahs and amens. It's sad, that these people want to have the Spirit, but don't know how to invite it. It was a strange experience. It was really strange. And there was no Spirit when others prayed. But soon as the missionaries started praying, the difference was night and day. I dont get how people can NOT notice it.

Ps. Thanks for the letters! Both via SnailMail and eMail!

-Elder Allen