LIFE IS GOOD...even with lice...

Thats right people! I have lice. Head lice. Its literally disgusting and pretty hilarious at the same time. This past week my scalp was so dry and itching so bad every day. I thought it was because I had just recently changed shampoo, but last night as we were doing our nightly planning, I just couldnt take the itching any longer. I had Sister MacD look through my hair (sick, i know) and sure enough, there the little buggers were. Never having lice before, I quickly called the mission nurse to find out what to do. When the nurse confirmed that I really did have it, I literally had a melt down. Okay, it wasnt just a melt down, more like a creeped out, freaky, crying, petrified, melt down. We had to race over to Walgreens (broke the sabbath on my mission, eeek) and $50 later I had the supplies I needed to beat these sick things. Side note: it was 9:30pm by the time we left to the store. We got back around 10:15 and started at it. Getting rid of lice is NOT a quick process for those of you who dont know. 6 hours and two mission approved movies later, as Sister Mac picked through one inch sections of my long, thick hair, we finally finished the two step treatment. It was 4am when we were finished and the process wasnt stopping there. The mission nurse told us we had to wash and vacuum EVERYTHING! (our neighbors probably hate us for vacuuming at 4 in the morning, but it was a crisis) Finally at about 5:40 am, Sister Mac and I laid down on our mattresses with nothing but a top sheet for each of us. Lets just say, neither of us slept much and were freezing all night long with no clean blankets to cover us up. Needless to say it was a long night. My little lice issue is also why I am so late to emailing this morning! Sis Mac spent another 5 hours this morning digging through my hair one more time and luckily most of them are gone! Haha. Looking back to last night, I cant help but laugh and wonder what else the Lord's got coming my way. He knows i'm ready for anything, i guess. ALSO, can i just say that I have THE BEST COMPANION EVER!? She seriously rocks for standing there for 9 hours (altogether) digging through my hair, not complaining once!

We have a baptism this Saturday! Brad Frantz, our 21 year old investigator who is in the air force, will be baptized and confirmed this weekend!! He is seriously so awesome! We had a lesson this week at the Garrick's house (he is the stake patriarch and they are SERIOUSLY so cool). We talked a lot about the priesthood and how he will receive the Aaronic priesthood after he is baptized. At the beginning of the lesson, he was not so sure if that was something he wanted, but as he came to understand and realize the blessings the priesthood can bring his family, he was sold. After the lesson we asked him if he had invited any of his friends to his baptism. He told us no, but said "I told my friends I'm a mormon. Well, that i'm becoming a mormon, or whatever I am at this point." Haha we were so impressed and Sister Mac was tempted to do a somersault in celebration right then and there! This morning he totally suprised us by asking us if we would be able to be with him at his first temple session! AHH! of course we will! He is being deployed to Afghanistan in December, but plan to head down to do baptisms at the Sacramento temple before then. Saturday is going to be a wonderful day and he is going to go so far in this church. His testimony and the person he is becoming, is why it is so worth it to be out here. Watching that amazing change in people, where they realize that this is what really matters, is the best thing in the world.
 

I forgot to write this in my email last week but Vaughn, who was baptized on August 30th, received the Aaronic priesthood! We had no idea and then they called his name in church and we all sustained him. It was the most amazing thing to see and we are so proud of him!
 

It is definitely cooling down around here. On saturday it rained all day long and it was actually really awesome. I may or may not have been praying for rain this past week. :) We walked around with umbrellas and I have decided that I could definitely live somewhere that it rains a lot. (Road trip to Seattle in 14 months, anyone?) I feel like I am definitely turning in to a California girl though and now feel like 60-70 degrees is freezing and requires a coat. Back home when it got down to 60, I was still walking around in shorts and a tshirt. Who am i?
 

We finally had a lesson with Margaret, the woman who's husband died in the hospital the same day that Sister Grant was in the ER. Her daughter Hannah, who is 19, sat in with us and it went amazing. Margaret had so many amazing questions and was so curious about everything. She was a little bit weary about reading the Book of Mormon because of that verse in Revelations 22 where it says "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book". After a few other scriptures and some clarification, we were able to help her feel more comfortable with the fact that there is more scripture. The Lord wants to bless us with more knowledge, how can we not want that? (2 Nephi 9 talks all about this.) Hannah, her daughter, LOVED the lesson and I think she is really going to do well with the lessons. Sister Mac committed both of them to baptism and tomorrow we are going to commit them to a specific baptismal date. So exciting!
 

We received a referral from the mormon.org hotline, to go and visit a woman named Pauline. Her brother in law referred her to the missionaries and told us that we needed to be very bold with her. He told us exactly what to say and said that we needed to say it exactly how he told us. We found her living at one of the sober living homes our ward mission leader, brother miller, owns. Pauline came out into the living room and we introduced ourselves. We decided that Sister MacDonald would do the honor of being bold and saying what her brother in law told us to say. Sister Mac looked at her and said, "Pete says that It is time to listen to what the missionaries have to say and do what they ask you to do, it will save your life." It was so powerful and I definitely felt the spirit. She was very taken aback and honestly didn't know what to say (i really dont think i would know what to say either) Pauline basically said okay and went back in to her room. Sister Mac and I didn't really know what to do next and as I talked to Leslie, one of Pauline's roommates, Sister Mac walked outside after Pauline and apologized if we offended her. She said that she was just caught off gaurd but would give our church a chance. Sadly, she cracked one of her ribs last week and was not feeling well yesterday. Hopefully she will come next week!

I have been studying a lot about charity this week. My dad told me to read in 1 Corinthians 13 and my studies took off from there. I forgot my study journal this week and wrote down SO many amazing notes about charity. I will have to add them to my email next week because they are too awesome to pass up.
 

Things are going great and the work is hastening forward!

Pray that my lice goes away. :)

love you all and miss you guys like crazy!
sister allen