From the time I opened my mission call to now, I have been hoping and
wishing to serve in Chico. I don't know why, but I have always felt a
draw to it. Last night we received transfer calls and My dream has
finally come true!!! I am being transferred up to Chico and have been
assigned to be a Sister Training Leader. I will serve in two wards.
Chico 2nd and the YSA ward for Chico State. Sister Housley will be my
new companion and she is also a Sister Training Leader. I feel like we
will get along really well. I am so excited for this leadership
opportunity and grateful that my Heavenly Father knows me personally.
He chose the perfect place for me and I could not be more excited.
Sister Training Leaders have a great responsibility and set the
example for a lot of the other sisters in our areas. We will be
responsible for the sisters needs who we serve with and will conduct
"exchanges" with different companionship each week to make sure their
needs are met. Here is a snippet from an article that explains what it
means to be a sister training leader: "The role of sister training
leader has been created as more female missionaries serve in missions
around the world. Sister training leaders will be responsible for the
training and welfare of female missionaries assigned to them and will
be members of and participate in, the new mission leadership council.
Sister training leaders will continue to proselytise and will also
spend time each week training and evaluating the needs of female
missionaries. They will report directly to the mission president on
the needs of sister missionaries. "It seemed appropriate, given the
large increase in the number of missionaries, including a large
increase in the number of sister missionaries, to look at the way
missions are managed," Elder Evans said. In April, the Church created
the mission leadership council and the role of sister training
leaders. Sister training leaders are responsible for the training and
welfare of female missionaries assigned to them, and they serve on the
new mission leadership council, along with zone (mission area)
leaders, the mission president, his wife and his assistants." How
humbling and blessed I feel right now to have been given this
opportunity to learn, serve, and grow.
My new address up in Chico is: 355 East Lassen Avenue Apt #4 Chico, CA 95973
We finished up all of Sister Byrnes training last week and she will
now be staying here In Loomis to train a brand new missionary. What a
great opportunity that will be for her as well! Still no sign of her
visa. So we'll keep her!
Here's a couple of things I will miss about Loomis: the LaPlante
family, Irish dancing, intellectual conversations with an 11 year old
hoping to be a pediatric neurologist. Steve, Terry, and Jerry--the
local homeless. Taylor's milkshakes. Gerald's sweet smile. The Loomis
Mobile Home park. Road kill. Dirt roads. Tiny libraries. An awesome
Bishop. Brother and Sister Stoddard. The Meteer family. Sister Byrne
and....Soooo much more!!!
On Saturday we had the opportunity to go with the LaPlantes to Tony's
fire station. He is the captain at Fire Station #6 in Roseville and it
was a good opportunity to see him in his environment. We were hoping
it would be a good opportunity for us to really ask him why he isn't
baptized yet and where he stands with this whole thing, but literally
six minutes after we got there, he was called out on a call. Ugh...we
practiced it and everything. I guess it just wasn't the right time. We
were able to hang out in the fire station for a little though. We had
the whole thing to ourselves while they were out on call and role
played firefighting scenarios with Garrett (their son who is 11). Such
a blast! Haha.
We worked with the members a lot this week. President Weston told us
that if we weren't teaching one of the lessons from preach my gospel
each day, that we need to teach them to members. So we picked a few
houses to go to this week and were able to role play with them. One of
the member families actually took the opportunity to invite their sons
good friend over to hear the plan of salvation lesson. It was an
unexpected but amazing opportunity to teach and maybe something will
come of it. It's great to see the members becoming more excited and
ready to share the gospel. The members finding us people to teach is
the most effective way to do missionary work.
Last Monday at Pday, I also had another unexpected opportunity to
share the gospel. We all got together as a zone to have a going away
BBQ for two elders that are headed home this week. We were at the
Lincoln park and the elders started talking to this group of people
and invited them to come over and have lunch with us. One of the
woman, Tylene, was really religious and going through a lot of hard
things. I was able to sit down and chat with her about the gospel
while the missionaries played some kickball. She was awesome, accepted
the Book of Mormon, and agreed to have missionaries in Lincoln go over
to visit. I have been praying to have my eyes opened for unplanned
opportunities to share the gospel and I am grateful that Heavenly
Father is opening my eyes to them.
This week comes with a lot of good change. Moroni 7:41 comes to mind
as I think of this week. It reads, "41 And what is it that ye shall
hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the
atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised
unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to
the promise." I know that this is gods plan. I know that everything
will work out the way He knows it can, because I have hope. I have
hope in Christ. I know He lives. I know He wants us to be successful
and he will provide us opportunities that will be the best for us
personally.
I love you all! Can't wait to see how my first week in Chico is going
to be. A. Lot of good things are coming, i can feel it. Chico better
be ready for me!!
Miss all of you like crazy!!
Love forever,
Sister Allen
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