goodbye chico... hello anderson.

Whats up? I'm getting transfered.

 

We got transfer calls last night and I am being transfered to Anderson! I for sure thought that I was getting transfered down south to Antelope, but looks like Heavenly Father had somewhere else in mind. Anderson is up north and I live on a street called "Shady Lane", so that gives you a quick idea of what its going to be like. hah. I am really not ready to leave Chico. I guess I really haven't been ready for any of the transfers I've had, but I always feel like I am going to leave. I am excited for another new area and all that I am going to learn here. Who knows? this might be my last area. I only have 4-6 week transfers left on my mission and so it is more than likely that I could end my mission in Anderson!

 

This week I had an overwhelming desire to share the gospel with everyone that we passed. I just really felt strongly that I needed to give everyone an invitation to hear the gospel. Tuesday morning we were out visiting some less active members. We were getting back in to the car, but I felt really uneasy and knew that is not where we needed to be going. I told Sister Curtis that we should go and knock a couple of doors. We ended up having two awesome conversations with two different people. One YSA who was super interested in coming to activities and a woman named Dorhonda. We have a return appointment with her tomorrow (that im missing) and I can't wait to hear how it goes. Everything that she was saying was exactly what we believe. She is so great! I just think to myself, what if we wouldn't have knocked on those doors? those two people would have never had the invitation to hear the gospel. Invite, invite, invite!

 

A couple of weeks ago I told a story about meeting the Watson family. They are a part member family. The wife is a less active member and the husband and 21 year old son are not members. We have had a really hard time finding a time to meet with them, as they kept canceling our appointments. We finally were able to get ahold of them on Thursday night and had a really awesome conversation with both the dad and son. The dad told us that his son had been asking and asking if he could go to church. We invited them to come to church on Sunday and they said that they might be able to make it. We reminded them again on Saturday night and they both showed up to church. Brother Watson literally LOVED church. He was so impressed by everything. It was his first time at church and he called us afterwards. He left us a voicemail saying how grateful he was that we invited him to church and how amazing it was. We recieved another call this morning from Sister Watson, she wants us to come over tomorrow to start doing "home studies" (as she calls them) with her family! How much of a miracle could we ask for! I'm sad this is happening as I am leaving, but so excited to see what will come of it! This family is so ready to be members of this church.

 

Monday afternoon, President and Sister Marston arrived to our mission. We were able to meet them Friday at our Missionary Leadership Council and I already love them. They talked about "Begin with the End in Mind." We are focusing on the end goal, which is to get people to the temple to take out thier endowments. President Marston really stressed the principle of Enduring to the End. We all need to understand that when we are baptized, we are commiting to serve the Lord all of our days. Baptism is the entrance on to the path, but enduring is how we stay on the path back to God. Just as D&C 20:37 says, we must have a "determination to serve him to the end." Are you determined to serve God to the very end? Are you doing all you can to be committed to your covenants? If not, change. Do what you need to do to live up to your covenants you have made.

 

I am so grateful for the time I have had to serve in Chico. I know that this is exactly where the Lord needed me at this time. I have learned so much about myself. I have an even stronger testimony and know what kind of person I want to be. I have loved every second here in Chico. It wasn't easy here, but I wouldn't change anything about my time spent here.

 

I love you all! Sorry this is short. I have so much to get done before tomorrow morning.

 

Sister Allen