Week 32

Well. Lots to report on this week!

So transfers were supposed to be last Monday but the rain and the flooding made it so that some people couldn't get to transfers, so they postponed them till Saturday. So we had our apartment packed up cause our area was getting shut down and we had to unpack to live in out apartment for the next week, right? We had taken all of our food to the other missionaries apartment cause they needed food and we had a bunch and since we were being transferred on Monday, we didn't need it. Well, we survived on very little food. After we had basically unpacked a lot of our stuff over the course of two days or so, we got a call. This was Wednesday. The call said that we needed to make sure the apartment and the car were clean for tomorrow (Thursday) for transfers. So transfers ended up being on Thursday instead of Saturday, which made it nice to get to the new area and have some food...;)

My new area is called Summerwood. Its at the NorthEast corner of Beltway 8 and it is a biking area! I'll get back to the whole weekly mileage thingy, but its not that big of an area, about 6x6 miles or so. It also happens to be completely different in demographics than my last area! There are about 3 black people... The houses are all very nice. Very nice. Very very nice... I don't know if I like it yet or not. 

My new companion is Elder Lacusta from Calgary! We have had some fun conversations about the different words for things and stuff like that. He and I are basically the same person from different backgrounds. It'll be really cool to see how things work out over the next 5 1/2 weeks. I'll send pictures later on. He's been out about 22 months as near as we can figure. He had to go home for heart surgery a while back and came back out a transfer after I did.

My new apartment is very very nice! There is carpet and a washer and dryer inside the apartment. I don't know what the address is yet, but I'll get that here shortly. 

We have a lot of people that are so ready for the fullness of the Gospel! It'll be awesome to help them progress.

Well, that's about it! Love y'all! Send pics! I'm forgetting what all y'all look like. 

-Elder Allen

******

The flooding hasn't affected really anyone in our mission. Its mostly the other two Houston Missions that have been affected the most by the flooding. Sounds like you had a lot of fun on the asphalt Paver! Looks like you did too! I didn't get transferred to the boonies. I wish I had. But I am here in the Summerwood neighborhood. Its sick. So much wealth in one spot. Look at some of the houses on Google Maps. The most 'ghetto' neighborhood in my new area is about as nice as the nicest neighborhood in my last area. I don't know how I feel about it yet. President Rascon lives in our area and this is his ward if that gives you any inkling about it... But, all in all, the Ward has a lot of potential and I think we will be able to do wonderful things here!

-Elder Allen

Week 31

On Apr 18, 2016, at 3:46 PM, Van <vallen@xmission.com> wrote:

The pics remind me of how it was when I was a kid….now you know what I meant when I said I floated down the street on an inner-tube…..I wasn’t joking.

Cool videos

-Dad

From: Ben Allen [mailto:ben.allen@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 1:48 PM
To: Xmission <vallen@xmission.com>
Subject: Re: water

Probably not. There were only 2 areas that got flushed this transfer, us and an area in Cleveland up North.

I've uploaded most of em, still have a few to go though. Then I have a bunch of pics on my iPad. I'll keep taking pics though!

-Elder Allen

<image001.jpg>

Haha, look what we picked up this week

On Apr 18, 2016, at 2:37 PM, Xmission <vallen@xmission.com> wrote:

So the two of you get to stay together. Just in a new location?

Well be safe and have a good week I'm sure they'll be plenty of cleanup to go around. We all miss you over some great pictures take some more and upload them kids love them.

-Dad

On Apr 18, 2016, at 10:13 AM, Van <vallen@xmission.com> wrote:

I hope you have a good swimsuit today. 

Remember the storm drains. Stay away from them. Better only 1 person be lost than 2 in a rescue. They are overwhelmingly powerful.

It is cool to see all that water. I remember it so well as a kid. It was a highlight of mine growing up.  Lots of stories to tell.

Have a good day. I guess this really messes up transfers today.

-Dad

Happy bday! 

So I'm being transferred again. Our area is being shut down and we are being flushed. So basically we are doing the same thing we did last transfer. We have to pack up e apartment and make sure the area book is up to date and the records are being transferred correctly. 

We went to another missionaries apartment this morning to pick some stuff up before the rain was too bad for transferred. We waded through the parking lot and didn't think too much about it. We made it to the other missionaries apartment just fine without too much trouble and picked up the stuff and hung out with them for a minute or two. Well, on our way back home, we couldn't get home. The rain had picked up and everything was super flooded. We were on the feeder just down the road from our apartment and we couldn't get through. So we turned around on the one way road and went the wrong way. It's ok though, cause everyone else was too! We tried another way, made it a little closer, but it was still blocked. Then we tried the next way. Same thing. We drove around for a half hour trying to get to our apartment. We couldn't do it. So the four of us parked the car and hoofed it a half mile in the water to get to the apartment. Three of us had shoes and then one of them broke... So two of us didn't have shoes and we were walking through the streets of Houston, barefoot. We made it, picked up some shoes and an extra change of clothes and hiked back. 

We then found out that transfers have been cancelled and pushed back to Saturday cause it's supposed to rain all week. So we are here for another 5 days in an area that we've already shut down. We are in the dilemma of what to do for the next week. We will probably help out the other missionaries with the area if they ask for help, but if not, we will help them anyway!

-Elder Allen

Week 30

Well. Hey.

Another week came and gone. 

Big news! I was sick all week! And then my comp got it two days later. And then it went through the rest of this district. Some still have it. Crazy huh? Germs. This week wasn't fun, but it was good.

Not much to report this week, just stuffs. 

Oh! We rode our bikes around. And drove.

So we saw a dead cat this week. So we spent the rest of the week making dead cat jokes.

Some of our investigators are like dead cats. They just don't do anything!

People from Houston are like dead cats. They shouldn't be driving.

You know what speaks Spanish better than me? A dead cat.

-Elder Allen