Week in the house

Hello All,

So other than the fact that tuesday we lost the whole day trying to donate blood, well my companion anyway, as i´m american and cant do it. We were there from 7AM to 6PM.. not good. thursday and half of friday we were in the house resting as my comp had half his toenail cut off because he had an ingrown toenail... Not fun also we dont have a whole lot of time caus etoday are transfers and my companion is saying goodbaye to everyone. He is going to monterrey i will be made trainer and district Leader... Super nervous about that. Dont want to screw up... Sorry its short this week you´ll get the full update next week, NO TIME this week.

With Love Elder Allen

First week without a baptism in a month and a half :(

Family and friends,

So this week was a bit depressing as the baptisms we had planned fell through, but thats ok cause they just had to wait a bit longer as they have to get married first. the oldest daughter (13) wanted to get baptised this sunday but her dad wants her to wait for the rest of the family, they will be baptised the 28th of January. they are from puebla and go there frequently to sell things here that are authentic from there, such as really delicious food :) the cheese is amazing, anyway, thats the depressing part.

The good part is we found a fair amount of new people this week and the majority of them have accepted baptism. :) When i got here the area had 60' refferals in the house that had not been contacted, there are now 9, this week we plan on getting it done.

I include 创The compass创 its the mission news basically, its in spanish but my zone came out #1 and my companion and I are diplayed as the Companionship that baptised every week in december, or the successful companionship, as that is the goal of the mission, baptise every week, its really hard to do and really very tiring, and the majority depends on the blessings you recieve, because we can go out and work 12 hours a day and sweat blood, but we wouldnt get anything done. We have to have the spirit with us in order to be successful.

This week went by super duper fast and it was fairly normal, lots of door knocking and being rejected, but the one door when they let us in is worth it. :)

Love you all!!

Elder Paden W Allen

Merry Christmas

This week was killer, again. We went to monterrey and took pictures at the temple after an extensive talent show were ´´cantan santos angeles´´ was sung at least 95489650 times, a delicious dinner were the mission president sat at our table (we´re priveledged like that) and 2 days of traveling :) It was great. we acted a narration, actually i wrote it, my companion read and i acted... not gonna lie i was nervous as all get up. it was a story about the 4th wise man from the americas named Pekú. it was nerve wracking.
Other than that nobody let us into there house cause nobody wants to see the mormons when their small, 3 room house is full of 33 smelly mexicans who just ate about 45 pounds of bean tamales..... it was exciting.
we spent the christmas relaxation time we had with a family in our ward cooking and answering life questions. it was fairly entertaining. thats pretty much it this week, i enjoyed talking to the familoy, glad grandpa liked his boots, and hope you all had a wonderful christmas and have a happy new year too, you all have fun watching the fireworks and sipping fancy apple juice, i´ll be curled up in my semi warm bed crying myself to sleep.... Just kidding :) Have a good one!!!
With Love,Elder Allen

Happy New Year!!

Hello Family and Friends,

 

This week was difficult as the majority of the people were drnking, and missionaries can´t be in an enviroment where people are consuming alcohol. So we didn´t find too many people to teach, also nobody showed up to church as everyone was all out partying. Investigators that is. We did have a baptism though, Jessica Yajaira Campuzano Gúzman. A young woman of 11 years she is a member of a part member family.

 

The Noise was incredible with all the fire works that the people were using. The Firework that that is most popular is one called `paloma´ its a triangle shaped firecracker made of newspaper and gunpowder... it blows up and is louder than a grenade. we went to sleep at 10:30pm and it sounded like war outside because everyone has like 100 palomas each. they say that your ears ring at midnight because of all the fireworks, but we were asleep and missed it. Oh well.

 

I included a picture of a pitbull puppy that we gave to a family who didnt have christmas because they didnt have money. Also their German Sheperd, Rot Wiler mix was stolen let out etc. so we had found a lady who was giveing out pit bull puppies for free because she hadnt been able to sell them and the mom was starting to killl them, so we played santa :) It was fun :) the 2 little girls love her and they put their doll´s clothes on her and carry her around in a stroller. :)

 

Wishing you all a happy new year!!

 

Love you,

Elder Paden W Allen

19 Diciembre 2011

Fam and friends,

This week went by quick even though it was a bit stressful. it rained almost all week long and has been about 20-40 degrees all week.  this morning the sun came out and its now about 60 outside, but the buildings are all out of cinder block so its still about 30 degrees inside. the humidy is crazy there are salt deposits on the buildings in the mornings beacause of it. it looks like snow but its not cold and the ants seem to be attracted to it.

This week On the 15th of december (when i finished a year in the mish as i´m sure yáll know :)) Veronica got baptised its been a special expirience to be able to teach her and see her change and grow and progress even though her dad has been against it since the begining. But her mom signed the paper and was baptised at noon the 15th :) we had an interview this morning of Bruce, (The guy with long hair) he will be baptised tomorrow. Lots of blessings here in Nuevo Laredo. :) Bruce plays in a hard rock band and cut his hair last week :) big step for him btw. :)

We are trying to get 3 different couples married, 1 in close and just needs more money, another is getting all the papers together, and the other isnt even close but we just found them too. we also found 2 families this week, 1 went to church  yesterday. this week we will be going to Monterrey for the mission christmas party. The district leader says there will be a suprise there but we arent sure what it is. super excited to see what it is. we leave tomorrow at 3 and dont get back untill thursday morning. Gonna be crazy :) will try to send pics :)

Lots of Amor,

Elder Paden W Allen

( i was fighting with sending e-mails with the sig. so i had to take it off :()

P.S. i included 3 pics one of me and one of bruces guitars, one of veronica´s baptism and one of me my comp and Patty a recent convert that moved to chiapas this week.

A letter from Troy to Paden and Paden's letter back:

Hi Elder Allen,

How was your week?

I am reading a book entitled "Trails to Testimony".  I am reading this book for scouting and round table.  The main point of the book is the importance of bringing young men to Christ.  It talks about the Aaronic Priesthood and scouting and how they can work hand in hand to bring young men to Christ. 

Some points I have highlighted are...

·         Scouting, Varsity, and Venturing weekly activities can be the laboratory for practicing and applying what the young men learn on Sunday.

·         Scouting benefits are... Character, Citizenship, and Fitness building.

·         Monthly camping and hiking can be trails to strengthen testimonies of God, prayer, Christ.  And preparation for life.

·         Reflection, reflect on how the activity or experience relates to the gospel or life values.

- After every activity
- Immediately after an experience
- Ask open ended questions

Toward the end of the book it shares several stories of missionaries and how scouting helped prepare them for the mission field.  So, my question for you is this. 

As you reflect back on your first year as a missionary, have you every had a time when you may have related it to an experience or something you learned as a Scout, Varsity, or Venture?

P.S.  Be warned, I may share your experience with the leaders at round table.

Have a Great day!

Dad :o) 

Dad,

Of course, actually i was just thinking about that yesterday.

There have been several times i have used things i have learned in boyscout this year as a missionary, from helping people paint to tieing as cloths line for an old woman in her front yard, a not that wouldnt come undone again. also i am always applying teachings i learned from scout leaders in teachings that i give. this sunday i helped to teach a class on how to teach where i  related many expiriences as a scout to teaching. If i hadnt been invovled in Boyscouts I would not be a missionary now. from learning self confidence in campouts as a boyscout to helping the others apply what i had learned as a varsity i not only learned how to do many priceless things, obtained many priceless memories, but also has helped me to learn how to express myself in teaching things that i have learned, and that is a priceless lesson as a missionary. When things are hard to do i remember the diligence i had to have to get my swimming and archery merit badges, the 2 most difficult ones that i earned, i started them both 5 years before i finished them, several times in my mission i have thought: ´´If i could do that i can do this.´´

Hopefully that helps with what you needed from me :)

Love you,

Elder Allen

12/5/2011 freaking awesome week

 Hello family and friends,

First off Happy birthday to Dillon and Wyatt :)

 

This week was a killer, we had a crazy time organizing baptismal dates tours of the church house spiltz and christmas related activities. we foought a bit to find new investigators, however we did find quite a bit, we had the baptisms of Maudiel Anibal Manzanares Renteria and Macaria Gaytán Moreno, we found them both knocking doors and they progressed super fast. Maudiel went to church and everyone thought he was a member from another ward, he has a special light about him that is amazing and he just needed to hear about the restoration and water to be a member, we actually took him with us to a few apointments in order to be able to teach a few sisters, cause we need somone 18 or older to come with us and he played the part of a member :) he is already thinking about serving a mission in a year when he can send in his papers. I feel blessed to have been the one to find him. God would have led him to the church all by himself but chose to use us to bring him to the Gospel.

 

The story is pretty much the same with Macaria, she was found the same day as Maudiel but has gone to church more, this sunday she showed up in a skirt for the first time all by herself for her confirmation. she set the example for Sergio, her husband who has to quit smoking first. they have both been coming to church by themselves.

 

This next week we will have the baptisms of Toni, Martha and Gabriela, toni is a young man, 18 years old and super excited to be baptised, but has lots of opposition, his mom is pentacostes. and doesnt agree with his decision entirely, but then again neither did Maudiel´s family. this sunday we were in sacrament meeting and he leaned ovcer to me and whispered: i saw the font is full, can i get baptised today or do i have to wait until saturday? unfortunately he couldnt do it just quite yet as he needs an interview first. he has already started paying tithing :). He was a refferal from a young woman in our ward that is in a few of his college classes, we were introduced the Fiesta we had in the church a few weeks back :) 

Hope everything is going great back there in Idaho, still like 70 degrees in the day with a chilly northern wind, and about 40 at night sometimes, its finally cooling off, they tell me  once the cold finally sticks that it will last until late februrary. and to answer Jacobs question, no it has not snowed here. actually the last time it snowed here was in the 70´s i think, snow is a fairy tale for all the little kids here :)
Love you all and enjoy this christmas season for what it really means eh?
Con Cariño,

-Elder Paden W Allen

Mosiah 4:30 & 5:5

Working to make the world a better place, one door at a time.