Lexis' Journal Entry June 29, 2013

"  Sister Grant is still not feeling well.  President Weston told us to stay in today and rest.  Sis Grant took a nap this morning after study time until about two.  I didn't have much to do, so I just wrote a couple letters, I watched The Testament.  Sadly the DVD stopped working halfway through... I sat outside on the balcony & I honestly love the heat  & humidity.  It was like 108' today and super humid.  I really do like it... Sis Grant thinks I'm crazy. Haha!  I ended up taking a little nap while she slept.  We had an awesome dinner with the L's & they had all of their grandkids over.  It was super yummy & fun.   After, we did some planning with Bro Miller, the ward mission leader.  They literally have the most awesome house in the world.  Yuba City is cool there's 3 different kinds of areas. The poor area where houses are smaller, older & a little run down.  The stuccoville area where houses are super nice but all stucco'd in a different shade of cream or brown.  Then there's the downtown area and the houses are these older colonial style but they are so well taken care of.  Zane would die if he saw them.  They're amazing!  We didn't teach anyone but hopefully on Monday we'll be back at it.
- Sister Allen  "

Lexis' Journal Entry June 28, 2013

" One hundred and eight degrees  Its 108' today!!! ay curumba!
12pm
This morning we are in the hospital.  Sister Grant hasn't been feeling very well.  We think it might be dehydration.  We've been sitting here in the ER waiting room for about an hour and are hoping they call us back soon.  Its amazing how different the world is only 10-12 hrs. away from home.  Yuba City is very povertish and dangerous in a lot of areas.  A lot of people don't have any money and are on Medicare (government issued insurance.) Its so sad!
Later on...
We got done with the hospital at 5pm.  Sis Grant had to get fluid through an IV. They say she has dehydration and that in this crazy heat we need to drink lots of Gatorade!  While we were in the ER, an ambulance rushed in an older man who had collapsed from the heat.(Our bed was in the hall & so we could hear it all happening.)  The guy's internal core temp. was 109' and he was already not breathing for like 5 minutes.  He ended up passing away and it was so sad because at first he was a John Doe.  But somehow they found his identification & were able to contact his wife & friends.  It was really sad to hear their reaction when they saw him.  But it really made me think about the plan of Salvation & how important it is especially in situations like that, that we know that we can see them again. And really they're in a better (less hot) place. I just wish I could've gone in there and told his wife that. Its so sad that a lot of people really don't believe they'll see their loved ones again.  Wouldn't that be awesome if we just randomly found her one time? Our message could give her so much hope.  We finished weekly planning tonight & we are hoping for a very successful week! because we were at the hospital we had to cancel all of our appointments and dinner plans. We got a pizza from Little Caesars and it was actually super good. We are going to bed early tonight because Sis Grant is still not feeling well...:-(  Night!
- Sister Allen

P.S.  Everyone stares at us here or tries to avoid all eye contact.  It's pretty hilarious! We're like aliens... in a new world.  Its so strange.  "

Lexis Journal Entry June 27, 2013

" Wow, today was eventful!  Sis Grant and I saw so many people.  We had an appointment & other things planned, but no one of them really went through.  This morning we had District Meeting.  It was long & kinda boring.  There are 6 Elders & one other sisters companionship. All of us went our for district lunch In N Out.  After Sis Grant & I went to an address that was suppose to be a less active's home but the address led us to a storage lot. We went next door to ask & ended up talking to this super nice older man named M.   He was very familiar with Mormons and had helped Marie Osmond for years to make her doll collection that was sold on QVC.  We talked with him about the church  and had actually been taught by missionaries before.  He also asked about what we thought about gay marriage (it was legalized in CA state yesterday.)  We gave him a Mormon.org card and told him to look it up on there.  We went over to this guy named E's house ( he seemed interested the first time) and his wife answered.  She said they weren't interested and when E came to the door it seemed like something was wrong.  We will check back on him in a couple weeks.  We stopped by B's house.  He's married and has the cutest little girl, Lily.  Last tie, they gave him a chapter in the B.O.M. to read but he said he hadn't done it yet.  He seemed great but he didn't follow through.  Hopefully he will read!  We went over to the R's home. They are a less active family in the ward.  Their two daughters go baptized in the church last year.  The apartment smelt super strong of weed.  (Its legal here & EVERYONE smokes it.)  Their family has been having issues getting along & they've been fighting.  The dad reads the B.O.M. with the kids every night though.  We planned to have an FHE lesson next Tuesday.  Their cousin R was there and as we were leaving we had a good conversation with him.  He doesn't understand why bad things happen to good people and has major law of chastity issues.  He is going to come on Tuesday when we have FHE.  We stayed talking to Ronnie for a little too long & had to run over to meet with E (she took the discussions before and then disappeared for a year.  she commited to baptism last time.)  We got to the car and had missed calls from Sis S (member) telling us not to go see E.  Basically her husband freaked out and told Sis S to never come back again.  E's husband has always been super sketchy and we have a feeling he is abusive.  So we called E and she still seemed interested in meeting next week.  Then we had a missed call from her and when we called back it was her husband.  He gave us an earful about E being too innocent and nice to say no to us and all this crap.  It just was not good.  I wish we could help her but we don't know how.  We visited J today.  We found him smoking on his front porch. I wish we knew how to make him stop!  We got to meet with H's (another less active family.) They have been really struggling through a court case.  Some gang members are always after them, breaking into their homes, beating their kids, shooting guns... its seriously crazy!! Sister H is so strong tho.  Its amazing that she is still sane after everything that's gone on.  We visited with them and then offered a prayer of safety to them.    I hope they're okay. I'm definitely keeping them in my prayers.  The A's were suppose to have us over for dinner, but had to cancel.  We stopped by the Kang's to drop off a fireside flyer.  (Less active, part member couple who run a daycare.)  They are usually stand offish but invited us in for a while. Sis K asked if we had any plans for dinner.  We told her no and she said we could eat there.  She said she had been thinking about us and calling to see when we could come over for dinner. (MIRACLE)  We had a great dinner and even taught a short lesson on prayer.  They got into it and we commited them to pray together as a couple every night!  The Gs were our last visit.  Both of them haven't been active for a long time.  They are different...but super interesting.  Bro G knows how to do everything.  They offered to make us dinner one night which is AWESOME!  Today was great.  We met so many people & this mission is really going to humble me.
-Sister Allen  "

Lexis' Journal Entry June 26, 2013

"  Today was amazing!  Earlier we went to the mission home to finish orientation & I met our new companions.  My trainer/companion is Sister Grant.  She is from Vegas & is super rad.  We are serving in Yuba City in the Feather River ward. We arrived at the area around 4:30pm & it all began.  We first went tracting.  I picked a street that kept catching my eye called Fruitvale Road.  I was super nervous so Sis. Grant did most of the talking. The first house wasn't interested and smelt like weed.  The second house was a guy named T.  His wife had just passed and so we sat on his porch & talked to him for a while. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet & we are hoping he will read it. Next door to T. lived a younger single lady named A. She was taking lessons from the Jehovah Witness' but used to be a member of the LDS church when she was about 12.  She remodeled her house and has a sickness that sometimes prevents her from being able to work so we offered our help& gave her our number to call if she ever needed anything. Sis Grant also invited her to church on Sunday.  We are praying she will make it!! We ate dinner at Subway & then I unpacked a little.  Our first lesson was at 7pm with J.  J. has been taking the lessons for a year. He has a testimony but really can't stop smoking.  The longest he's gone is 13 days!  We read the B.O.M. with him in Omni & tried to help him figure out what he could do too stop smoking.  I really hope he can find a way to stop! J. also has some social disabilities and is schizophrenic (but he takes medication for it.)  We then went over to A & J's house.  A  is a single mom who just got baptized in June.  Her son J got baptized the same day.  They are incredible & such a sweet little family with a strong desire to learn about the church as much as they can.  We read through the Book of Mormon with them & I was able to answer some questions they had about the Chapter 2 Nephi 4.  J prayed at the end and thanked Heavenly Father that I was there with them.  It was so sweet & the Spirit testified that this is definitely where I was supposed to be called.  I love it here!  Good night!
-Sister Allen  "

Lexis sent copies of her journal entries to me in the mail.  She asked that I post them on her blog for everyone to read.  It is  a wonderful testament of the work she is doing and those things that she is experiencing each day. 

June 25, 2013

An email from Sister Allen...

I'M HERE!!!

I made it to Roseville safe and sound. the flight went great but we had a little bit of a rough landing. My mission president and his wife are awesome! They are so nice and know that I will be well taken care of. They have four kids and their daughter Lizzie who is 11, hangs out with us here at the mission office. It is very humid here...well a lot more humid than Utah and I love it! When we got here it was raining and now it is super sunny. They said it gets really rainy for a day and then the next couple of days it will be around 100 degrees. Crazy, huh? Everyone is so nice here and I am nervous but excited to  get on with this work. Our P-days are on Mondays in the field. So expect my emails every Monday. They allowed us to email you today just so you know we got here safe. I am so grateful that I got to talk to everyone this morning and THANK YOU for actually answering your phones. There were 29 people who arrived today to the mission and we will be at about 250 missionaries in the mission by the end of the year. It is crazy how much each mission is growing. I think I am going to really like it here! I love you all and am thinking about you all each and every day. Thank you for all the love and support. don't forget to write and send packages.

 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

and HERE GOES NOTHIN'!!

Bring it on Roseville California!