hello everybody. hope you had a good week and that you are enjoying your day off from school. thank goodness for Memorial Day weekend, right? Schools almost out. hold in there.
Its my 21st Birthday Week! The party starts now. Whoop whoop. Welp, that's about as crazy as this missionary is gonna get. Haha, cause "All I want for my birtday, is to be a missionary!"
transfer calls came in last night and Sister Housley is moving up to Redding 1st ward. She will be companions with Sister Macdonald who I trained in Yuba City. I also found out that Sister Byrne, who i trained in Loomis, is going to be with my MTC companion Sister Giani. My little trainee daughters are going to be serving with some of my companions. Its awesome, but a little strange at the same time that we have all served together! They are all so great. Some of the very best, thats for sure!
Sister Curtis from Springville, Utah will be coming up here to serve with me. She is super sweet. We were in the MTC at the same time and came out to the mission field together. I even sat by her on the plane ride here. I am very excited to work with her and I think I will really enjoy her positive attitude and love for everyone. She is a really awesome missionary and exactly what this area needs.
Sherry and Michael's baptism is scheduled for this Saturday and I am hoping and praying that they will be ready. There is one hurdle that Sherry has to get over before we can know for sure that she can get baptized, so until then we are just having faith that it will happen. And if it doesn't, its not in the Lords time. Sherry is so committed to be bapitzed so we know that if it doesnt happen now, it will happen in a few weeks when all of the kinks get worked out. She already had her baptism interview, so its really just a waiting game.
I have been thinking a lot this week about how my mission has been unique. One of the reasons that I made the final decision to serve a mission was my patriarchal blessing. It tells me very specifically that I would recieve a "unique missionary call". I read through that part of my blessing again this week and so it has been on my mind. Friday night, we were in a lesson with Linda, (Sis Housley and I agree that the spirit is so strong during Linda's lesson, so its hard not to receive revelation) we had decided to read the most recent talk by Elder Bednar "Bear Up Your Burdens with Ease". Linda loved it and I also loved it because Sister Housley said something that really helped me understand my "unique mission". She referenced a part in the talk that said, "The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah." I thought back over the last (almost) 12 months of my mission and was reminded of all of the amazing, unique experiences I have been able to have. I have been put into circumstances that are unique to me. The things I have been able to accomplish and go through have allowed me to rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement is not just to be used when we need to repent, but it is also there to strengthen us through the good days and hard days. I know that because of the unique circumstances I have been put in, I have had to more fully use the Atonement. I have had to really come to understand who my Savior is and what He did for me, so that I could understand what He can truly do for me.
About a month ago we were walking through our favorite trailer park (the one where Sherry lives) and there was a woman outside washing out carpets with a hose. We walked up to her house and started talking with her. Her name is Angela, she is catholic, and not super interested in the church, but agreed to a return appointment. We kept putting her on our calendar to stop by and see her, but never really found the time or when we actually went over there she was either asleep or not home. Last week we decided to head over to their house. We had made the decision before hand that we were going to drop her off our teaching list if she wasn't there the next time we saw her, but last minute we decided to drop by. Angela answered the door, we were able to talk to her and showed her the Mormon Message "Because of Him", which she loved. We asked for a return appointment and then started telling us how she was extremely busy because her four granddaughters had just moved in with her suddenly. Their mom was in a bad place, their home in Live Oak just got robbed, and so they had been moved up to Chico to stay with their grandma for the summer. (Angela already has her son, his wife, and their three young kids living with her in this small trailer) Angela decided to introduce us to her grand daughters and they were the sweetest things. Lacy is almost 12, Nevaeh is 10, Moriah turned 8 yesterday, and Autumn is 6. They came out the door and we invited them to church! They really wanted to come and immediately loved us. They were so sweet. Telling us that they wished we were their home school teachers and how pretty we are. Haha. Their grandma was hesitant about saying yes about church, so they didnt end up coming that next week. Angela agreed to having us come over the next week to teach them, so we went over on Wednesday and had an awesome lesson out in their front yard about the Godhead. 6 out of 7 of Angela's grandkids sat out there with us as we taught them about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Saturday night we called Angela to see if the girls could come to church and she said YES! All four of them showed up right on time. They loved it and I seriously LOVE them. I know that there is a reason that we were supposed to talk to Angela four weeks ago as she was hanging out in her front yard. There was a reason we kept going back and there was a reason we kept her on our plans. These four girls NEED the gospel. They need to know they have a Father in Heaven who loves them and that their family can be together forever and be happy.
I am grateful for this time I have to serve. I am grateful for the people that have been prepared for me to meet at this time. I am so eternally thankful for the experiences that I have had.
do it to it. work hard, play hard. give it all you got. pray. love the people. etc. etc.
love you all mucho,
Sister Allen
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