An email from Sister Allen...

Hello everyone!

This week has been great and I cant believe its already Monday again. The weeks go by so quickly and every day is so fast. I am astonished that it will be September on Sunday. Where does the time go?!

I dont know if you remember this story. But ill tell it again for those of you who dont. While Sister Grant was sick, we spent one day in the hospital. We were there for about five hours on June 28th. While we were in the hospital a man was rolled in from an ambulance. He had collapsed and was unconscious. We were sitting right outside the room in the hallway while this was all happening. We heard them doing cpr, epi pens, etc. just to get this guy to start breathing again. It was a bit scary and we literally heard him die. They called his time of death and said he was a John Doe, meaning that he had no identification for the time being. As we sat there, we eventually heard them find his identification and call his wife and family. I remember her crying and shaking her husband trying to get him to wake up. In my journal that day I wrote these exact words, "I just wish i couldve gone in there and told his wife the hope of the plan of salvation. Wouldnt it be awesome if we just randomly found her one time? Our message could give her so much hope." On wednesday we decided to go tracting around on Elm Street. The last house we went to was the home of Jordan and Thelia. Thelia is the mom and Jordan is the 11 year old daughter. Anyways, we somehow got on the subject of her neighbor and how she was going through a really hard time because she just lost her husband. She talked about what had happened. The whole thing happened about a month ago and the story sounded so familiar to what had happened that day in the hospital. I got the chills and told Thelia that i thought I might have been there that day in the hospital. She gave us the womans address and I could not stop thinking about it all day. The next day we had some time and we were on our way to the library to do some family history excercise, but on our way I had a feeling to stop at this womans house quickly, just to see if this woman really was the same lady from the hospital. We knocked on her door and I knew right when she opened the door that it was the same woman who was at the hospital on June 28th. At first, we talked as if it was a normal door approach and her husbands death came up. I asked her what day it happened and as she said "June 28th" chills ran down my spine and I just stopped and said, "I have actually seen you before. I was in the hospital the day that your husband died. I heard the whole thing happened and watched you walk in to the hospital. I wrote in my journal about the event and have been praying and hoping that I would be able to find you." We all started crying and I continued on by telling her that I knew this was no coincidence. she could have lived anywhere in Yuba City, i could have been transferred, but i was kept in this area because I needed to find her. I brought my journal with me that day, just in case it was her, and read her my journal entry. We all cried and it was the most amazing experience. Every single thing happens for a reason. I know that without a doubt. I still am so overwhelmed by the experience but feel such peach because now I get to do what the Lord would have me do and share the gospel and the hope of the plan of salvation with this woman. We are going back tonight to teach her and I just know that her husband and Heavenly Father want her to have this gospel and this happiness in her life.

Vaughn is getting baptized this week! We moved the baptism to Friday at 7pm and he is so excited! He is so ready and basically will do anything to make it to Friday. ITS MY FIRST BAPTISM! YAY! We are so excited and have been passing out invitations to everyone we see. Everything is all set and as long as he doesnt smoke this week, we are ready  to go.

Brad has been gone in Ohio this past week visiting his daughter. We have been texting with him every day and sharing scriptures. We helped him download the Mormon Channel app (which i suggest everyone does) and have been giving him different mormon messages to watch throughout the week. The other night he texted us randomly and asked "Are you guys going to be able to give speeches?" Confused, we asked him "At what?" (The best text ever came next!) "At my baptism, of course! Will you guys be able to speak at my baptism?" He is totally planning his baptism already and it makes us so happy!!!! :) Brad is so ready, he just needs to realize how ready he is. September 21st is still the date that we are planning for and we are still waiting on approval from the AP's so that we can have skype lessons with him at a members house. We are so excited for him!

Jessica, the woman that I helped teach when I was in the trio, was baptized on Thursday. It was an amazing day for her. Her 2 year old daughter Ashley, after seeing her mom get dunked, started yelling "I wanna go in wawa like momma. I want wawa  on my head like momma!" It was so funny. Sister Mac and I did a makeshift "wawa" experience, by putting her up on the bathroom counter and covering her hands with bubbles and washing it off in the water. It kept her busy through the rest of the baptism. Sista Mac and Sista Allen babysitters to the rescue! haha.

We have had our lunch payed for three times now. It was so nice. This week on Wednesday it happened again at this place called Linda's. It was right after district meeting and there were about 12 missionaries there. Linda's is delicious but not super cheap. About $8-$10 a plate. Some random guy in the resteraunt, who we later found out is in our stake, paid for all of our meals. It was so generous and kind. We couldnt believe it.

Seriously, i think there is some kind of crazy pills that leaked in to the water on Saturday.

A good scripture this week comes from D&C 121:7-8. This is what the Lord tells Joseph Smith as he is praying for comfort in Liberty Jail. Put your own name in where it says "my son" and you will be overcome by the spirit. I promise you that.

Yesterday at the Myers home, their kids showed us a few YouTube videos that were pretty funny. You guys should definitely watch them. "Im Mormon and I know It" "I knew you were mormon when you walked in" and "Book of Mormon style". Classic. Maybe theyre only funny because thats like the cleanest form of entertainment a missionary can watch. But, still they are worth a view. :)

Last night, we visited a less active/part member family. Im not lying when i say that they were the funniest, most sarcastic, couple I have ever met. My stomach hurt so bad from laughing so much. The husband (who isnt a member) owns a saddle. He told us that the one thing everyone needs to own is a saddle that is on wheels, that you can watch tv on. He said that anyone who is unhappy can be made happy with a ride on the rolling saddle. Bro Leist invited us back to ride anytime and said "If you ever have a bad day because no one wants to join the church, then come over anytime and ride the saddle" You bet we'll be back!

We found 9 new investigators and had about 26 other lessons this week. Thats the most Other lessons we have gotten. On Wednesday morning, we went over to this place called Gleaners. Gleaners is a food bank where they hand out food to those who are on low income. People wait in long lines just to get this food. Vaughn and Suzie (newly weds, getting baptized on friday couple) had this awesome idea of teaching all the people in line. It was the best idea ever. We handed out about 18 restoration pamphlets and 8 book of mormons. People couldnt run away from us because they were stuck in line and really needed/wanted the food, so it was perfect. We fed them spiritual food as they waited for their temporal food. :)

Things are going great for Sister MacDonald and I. We are really getting along and have already made the decision to room together when we both get back to Utah State. She is such a strength to me and i feel so grateful to be her trainer. I know that we were prepared for each other and that we were supposed to be companions.

I love you all and miss everyone like crazy! Thank you for all the prayers, love, and support. I can feel all of it. :)

EVERYONE HAVE A GREAT FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

love,

sister allen

sisterlexisallen.blogspot.com

An email from Sister Allen

Hello all!

How has everyone been? I cant believe its Monday once again. It feels like it was just yesterday when i was writing everyone. This past week has been jammed packed and the work is hastening on like crazy!

Sister Macdonald and I would like to request a favor from you all. TELL THE PEOPLE TO STOP FEEDING US! Haha. Okay, seriously the food we get fed is delicious but I have never felt so full in my lifetime. I am so grateful, of course, that we are being fed so generously. But, people, my stomach can only take so much food. Sister Mac and I have started carrying around Tums in our purses because our stomachs literally hurt with how much food people feed us. Its a blessing and a curse. :)

The wedding was on friday night and was BEAUTIFUL! seriously, it turned out so great and was definitely a perfect simple wedding. I will send pictures. :) They are finally married and like Vaughn said, "It only took her 20 years to say yes." They are doing really well and were smiling from ear to ear all night long. The baptism is still on for the 31st for now...it may have to be moved to the week after or the thursday before because of Bro Myers, the person baptizing Vaughn, is going out of town that weekend. We are hoping that it happens on the 28th, but all we know right now is there will definitely be a baptism.

My allergies are acting up like crazy. It doesnt help that everyone has cats and that Yuba City is basically the pollen capital of the world. (That claritin is coming in handy mom) People are really attached to their animals here and me being the cat hater that i am, have a really hard time when every person grabs their cat, sticks it in my face saying "This is Snuggles." with a big grin basically asking me to pet it and love it. But guess what? i dont love it. i dont love snuggles and i dont like that cats make my eyes red and itchy. Sadly, they dont know/care and i have to fake my affection towards "Snuggles" by petting it and saying "aww...what a nice cat". While inside i am just thinking "holy cow, i will not be able to breathe tonight" and "do not touch anything with my right hand until i find a bathroom." This happens a couple times each day and hand sanitizer is my new best friend. :)

Jim, the 81 year old man from the Buttes Vista area, got baptized on saturday. We asked him how he felt about getting baptized and he let out a "humpf" as he shrugged his shoulders. Haha. It was a really cool experience and I am so glad that he finally got himself off of tobacco and coffee long enough to be baptized. He has been waiting a long time for this. He requested roast beef hash and grape, sugar free kool aid for refreshments and I have never seen him so happy.

On wednesday we were invited by one of our investigators to a lutheran church for a 'serve the homeless' dinner. We were a little worried about going, but it ended up being a great thing. We saw Terry, the woman who recieved the preisthood blessing a couple weeks ago. We have been trying to get a hold of her, but she is always working or sleeping. She was in really good spirits that night and invited us to come over on monday (tonight). She introduced us to her daughter and goes "These are MY missionaries. They are sooo wonderful!" We also picked up a new investigator there, his name is Steve and he even came to church yesterday. It was great to see him there and he is really open to learning more about churches. He says he has always gone to different ones but he has never found one that really sticks. Hopefully we will see him this week and be able to begin teaching him the lessons. I know without a doubt that the spirit will testify to him that our church is where he needs to be. The pastor of the Lutheran church came up to us as we were about to leave and was a little shocked to see us there. We quickly told him that we were not proselyting and were invited by a friend to just meet people and have a good time talking with people. He invited us to come and talk with him anytime and we may take him up on that offer. That might be an interesting conversation...

Things are going really well with our investigator Brad. He basically committed himself to September 21st for a baptismal date and we are so excited! We had a lesson with him on Saturday afternoon at the park. We taught him the gospel of jesus christ and it all made sense. Because he was taking lessons at the baptist church about a year ago, it was all very familiar to him but he told us that he doesnt know why, but this time it just makes sense to him. He is also the reason for the title of my email today. We were teaching him about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity at the beginning of the week and he goes "Hold up for a second. You know what i really like about ya'll? Ya'll are PASSIONATE!" and gave us high fives. Haha it was awesome and he said he really enjoys that we know what we know and we are not afraid to testify of it. Brad came to a baptism on Saturday night and then attended church yesterday. Everyone is so impressed by him and talks about how great he is every time we see a member from the ward. Last night we had another lesson with him over at the Millers home. We were considering going over the Word of Wisdom with him because on Saturday he promised us that he would not drink the whole time he was trying to make a decision about our church. He even went camping on saturday night and as all his friends were getting drunk, he literally sat there and kept his promise to us. His friends mocked him at first and tried to get him to drink, but he didnt. He stuck to his word. (Amazing, right?) So we thought we would teach him about the blessings of the WOW. I felt like that would be good, but might not be exactly what he needed. I suggested we say a prayer and right after i got done, Sister Macdonald and I were silent and then looked each other and at the same time said "Holy Ghost". The lesson was incredible. We taught him how he can receive answers to questions, what the holy ghost feels like, the difference between the power and the gift of the holy ghost (look it up in the bible dictionary for those of you who dont know...i didnt know there was a difference until i was out here.), etc. He told us that earlier he was talking to his Ex-wife and the first time she called, he was super irritated and sarcastic with her. Previous to the second call, he had a feeling that he really should take the time to listen to what she has to say and even if he doesnt agree with it to just not fight back. He said, "its funny ya'll talked about this because now i know that was the Holy Ghost testifying to me" I seriously couldnt stop smiling. HE GETS IT! HE GETS IT! Sister Macdonald and I both felt so grateful that we decided to pray about that decision and know that the Lord definitely knows his children better than we do. We listened to the prompting and taught him exactly what he needed to hear. Sadly, Brad is leaving today until Sept 11th and so we wont be able to see him obviously. We are trying to set up a system where we can skype with him once every week he is gone to have a lesson with him. We would skype at a members home and make sure he finishes most of the lessons with us by the time he gets back from Ohio.

Sister Mac and I had a miracle on Tuesday with a woman named Lucero. We were over in her neighborhood for a lesson, but sadly they canceled with us last minute. The two of us decided that we would tract all the houses at the end of this street to be productive. We started going to each house and not a single house answered. We got to the other side of the street and were at the last house before the house that we started at and finally a woman answered. Her name was Lucero, she is in her early 20s and has two little girls. She is originally a Jehovahs Witness, but hasnt gone for a long time. We asked her if she had met with missionaries before and she said she had, twice. The first time was when she was in her teens and she just remembers that she loved the missionaries and thought they were so great. Sadly, her missionaries were transferred and so she discontinued the lessons. The second time was about two years ago. She was pregnant at the time and was on bed rest a lot, so she didnt have much time to meet with them. We continued to talk with her and all of a sudden she stopped us. She goes, "you guys are going to think i am crazy. i cant even believe this. i just got a good look at what your nametags say and read your last names. Macdonald and Allen? Those are the same last names as the Elders that taught me two years ago." I suddenly got the chills and could not even believe it. What a miracle! She was in shock and told us that we could DEFINITELY come back and teach her now. no questions asked. We have a lesson with her tomorrow and both of us have a feeling that this is her time! Third times the charm, right?

We had another crazy miracle on Saturday afternoon. After our lesson with Brad outside and another lesson after that on our other investigators front porch in the blazing heat, we decided it would be a good option to grab some water. The closest thing to us was a 7/11 and we decided to stop there. We walked in and one of our investigators, David was there! He had found work today and was treating himself to two hot dogs. We grabbed our water and some 2/$2 gatorades and headed back out to the car. The car right next to us had a hispanic man and his daughter sitting in it. As i was getting in, the man called out and said "hey, are you guys mormons?" in a thick mexican accent. We told him we were and he says, "I am Enrique." My jaw dropped! Enrique is a man that was a referral from online on mormon.org. We have stopped by his house almost every day the past two weeks hoping to catch him. The referral told us that he was baptized in 2009, but hasnt been active for the past 3 years due to some word of wisdom problems. He got out of his car and told us that he had gotten our card we left on his door and was sorry he hadnt gotten a hold of us sooner. He asked for the spanish elders to go over there and hopefully he went to church yesterday at the spanish branch. We are so blessed to have finally found him and who knew that a random 7/11 would be the place!

Look up Ether 12:27, that is a wonderful scripture that i have been sharing with everyone this week. heavenly father gives us trials so that we will come closer to him and ask for his help. All we have to do is recognize that we cant be alone through our trials, humble ourselves, and he will make us strong. There is no other way by which we can overcome our trials. I know that to be true and wish to tell everyone out here that there is hope.

I love everyone so much and am so grateful for all the love and support!

Love,
Sister Allen

An email from Sister Allen...

hello everyone!

happy two month mark to me!! its official. i have been out here for two months so far and i cant believe it. 2 months seems like it came and went so quick. Its been a crazy and amazing ride so far. I am so lucky to be out here. The Lord has shown his trust in me and I in him throughout these past two months. Lets see, its been two months and i lost my trainer in the first two weeks, joined a trio, covered two huge areas, and now im training. Maybe i should stop saying "BRING IT ON!". But then again, maybe i shouldnt stop because i feel extremely happy and that this is exactly what was supposed to happen.

My new companion is awesome! Everyone told me training would be hard, but i actually love it! My companions name is Carissa Macdonald. She is from Centerville, Utah and went to Utah State for a semester before coming out here. Its really funny because we know all of the same people and we both think we have seen each other before. She is super cute and ready to work hard! Sis. Macdonald is definitely super in tune with the spirit and that has been such a blessing in our companionship. It is so awesome and we are getting along so well. This past week it felt like the miracles were endless each day. One after another kept happening and it is an amazing thing.

Friday was our MIRACLE DAY. It literally was like one after another, something kept happening and it was amazing. So we went to lunch on Friday with our Ward Mission Leader, Bro Miller. At lunch, he said that one of the missionaries who previously served in Feather River told him that the days she saw the most miracles is when they decided to park way down the street and walk all the way to the lessons. Stopping to talk to every single person along the way. So after lunch, we decided to give it a try. Our lesson was with Eddie, a referral from the mormon.org website that we had made an appointment with the night before. We parked 3 blocks away from his house and got out of the car to walk. Thats when the miracles began. As we were walking, a woman named Patrika rolled up on her electric scooter. She asked us if we had any food we could spare her and coincidentally Bro Miller had just given us this small box of fresh vegetables to eat. We told her that we had this box of veggies in the car and asked if she wanted to go with us back to our car and grab them. She was so grateful. We gave her the food and started talking with her about the church. She said she believed in God and He was the one who has gotten her through life. She doesnt belong to a certain religion and doesnt find it necessary, but
definitely believes in God. We gave her a Restoration pamphlet and invited her to meet with us this next week. We promised that the message we had was one of hope and could bless her life and help her through the challenges she was facing in life. She agreed to meet with us and we are going back tonight to teach her the first lesson. MIRACLE #1! We started back down the road towards Eddies and sadly, Eddie was still in Sacramento and wasnt going to be back until later that evening. We rescheduled with him for Saturday and then decided to go back to the car. As we were walking down his driveway and just as we had stepped on to the sidewalk a man on a bike called out to us and says "HEY! Are you guys sisters?" We turned around in surprise and told him we were. This is David. David is a member of the church. He has been inactive for about 20 years. He was in the bishopric, served a mission in Japan, and suffers from alcoholism. He has begun to turn his life around and has started attending AA meetings. David has been attending the Pentacostal church for a year now and is living with one of the families in the church. He has been praying and searching for the missionaries because he feels like now is the right time to come back to the "church of his fathers and ancestors", as he called it. He has struggled a lot in the past with different worldly temptations and definitely needs the power of the Atonement in his life. Sis Macdonald promised him that the Atonement and this gospel could bless his life and he could be happy again. He started crying and he knows that this is exactly where he needs to be. He told us he would attend church on Sunday and we gave him the Bishops number so he could meet with him as well. (Yes, he did come to church yesterday. He only stayed for sacrament but at least he came. :) We also asked him if he had been reading in his Book of Mormon. David told us that his mom kept bugging him to save up his money to buy one, but at this time with no income he couldnt put that as his first priority. We pulled a brand new copy out of our bag and told him "here, you can have this one for free." He started crying again and said this was an answer to his prayers and how grateful he was that he stopped us. He called us again last night and we are meeting with him tomorrow. He asked us to teach him and go through the lessons with him again and we are so excited to help him through this.) Another random thing, he knows a bunch of Sis Macdonalds family because his sister and his parents live up in the Centerville area. His niece even went to highschool with Sis Macdonald. He graduated from Viewmont and so did Sis Macdonald as well as her parents. Our hearts were so full with gratitude for heavenly father for leading him to us. We said a prayer directly after and both of us were holding back tears. It was an amazing moment filled with the spirit. So yeah, that was GIANT Miracle #2!! We thought that was more than enough miracles for one day, but heavenly father thought differently. :) As we were walking back down to our car, there was a man sitting on the street corner smoking a cigarette. We stopped and began talking with him. Our conversation went a little like this:

Us: "Hi there. We are the sister missionaries from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. How are you doing today?"

Him: "Im fine."

Us: "You just hanging out trying to cool down. Its really hot today."

Him: "yup." (at this point, we thought all hope was lost haha.)

Us: "Well, have you ever talked with missionaries before? Are you religious at all?"

Him: "Ive been baptized."

Us: "Oh really? Thats cool. When were you baptized?"

Him: "When I was 8..."

(the wheels started turning in my head but there was no way that he could actually be baptized in our church, right? you dont meet random people in yuba city that are apart of your church. theres just not that many members here...but i asked anyways...)

Me: "Oh okay...well, uhm, what church were you baptized in?"

Him: "Your church. The mormon church."

WHAT?!

Thats when my jaw almost hit the floor. What the? You dont just meet people who have already been baptized...those things just dont happen. haha. BUT, everythings possible with the Lord. My goodness though!!

We talked to him a little more about his past with the church. He told us he had been inactive for about 6 years. He didnt have a Book of Mormon and we told him to wait there as we literally ran back to the car and ran back with one in our hand. It was AWESOME! That was miracle friday. three miracles within thirty minutes and we were so grateful.

Brad, our investigator who is 21 and in the Air Force, has been meeting with us a lot this week! He even came to church yesterday and stayed all three hours! He loved church! He was talking all about it and liked the personal aspect of it. He said it was very simple and thats how religion should be. Sunday night he even came to the YSA fireside. (Sister Macdonald and I both had the opportunity to speak to the young adults in our ward and let them know our conversion stories. It was an amazing moment and I felt very blessed to share.) Brad was talking about how it was "his church" and "when he's a member of the church". WOW! i couldnt believe my ears. We are hoping to have him baptized by September 14th. Sadly, he will be out of town from Aug 20-Sept 11, but we are planning on setting up lessons over Skype at a members home with him so we can get through all the lessons. :) He is so ready. He just doesnt know it yet!

The Schmidt-Bosquet wedding is this week and we have lots of things to prepare for the big day. Sister Macdonald and I are in charge of the decorations and I am now grateful for those countless hours of pinning on pinterest. haha. Its going to be beautiful, simple, and just what they need. The 31st is still the date that we are planning on for his baptism. Yesterday was hard for him and was dealing with some of his PTSD. He is still doing well and keeping all his commitments. Satan will definitely start trying him as the days wind down.

Oh yeah, i sprained my ankle in soccer on Tuesday morning. That was fun. I had to hobble around on crutches for the day and my ankle was very swollen. Things are looking better this week and by Thursday it was feeling a lot better.

EVERYONE, read 2 Nephi 26:33. It is my favorite scripture right now and a huge testament that everyone deserves a chance at this gospel. No matter who they are, they deserve eternal life. Everyone can change and that is why we have the blessings of the Atonement in our life. Look at people at what they can become and the potential they have, instead of the way they are at this point in their life. Everyone can grow and learn and God will deny no one from the blessings of his gospel. Dont be afraid to invite. Invite with love and the spirit will testify to them that this gospel is the true word of god. This is the same church that Jesus organized when he was on the earth. They will come to understand that as you do your part as member missionaries. I know that with all of my heart.

thank you for all of the packages, letters, and emails. i love you all and wish i had more time to respond to you individually. i pray for each of you every day and dont worry about me because I am definitely being taken care of out here. By my amazing mission president, the members, my companion and especially by the Lord. I love you all and miss everyone!

Love,
Sister Allen

An email from Lexis...

Last night at about 9:45 we got transfer calls and guess what?! I AM EXPECTING!

im expecting a new baby missionary straight from the MTC and shes gonna get here wednesday.
haha! i am training! i am training and senior companion after only being out here for 6 weeks! I am the only one out of the huge group of missionaries that came out with me 6 weeks ago that is training and i feel so blessed that the Lord trusts me in this decision. I feel prepared to take on this opportunity and know how important a trainer is for new missionaries in their first 12 weeks.

i will still be serving in the Feather River ward and will have to move back in to my old apartment this week. I am very excited to find out who I will train. We go down wednesday to the mission office to pick them up and have a little orientation. I cant wait!

This past week has been great! I love being out here serving and know that the Lord continues to give us miracles each day. None of this would be possible without the Lord and I know it.

We had an amazing experience at the beginning of the week with one of the investigators in the Buttes Vista Area. Her name is Jessica. She has been investigating the church for about 7 years now off and on. She has made the decision to be baptized on August 22nd and since she chose a date a lot of weird stuff has been happening to her. Especially in her home with her 2 year old daughter Ashley. Her daughter kept saying that there was a little boy in her house who was trying to hurt her. But there really wasnt a little boy, if you know what i mean. Creepy stuff. Anyways, Jessica decided to have her house dedicated and asked for a preisthood blessing. So on Monday night, the zone leaders and a member from the buttes vista ward came over and did that for us. It was an amazing experience and the evil spirits that were there were cast out right as the prayer was started. One of the zone leaders said that as he started the prayer it felt like someone punched him right between the shoulder blades and then the air conditioning shut off and it was completely silent. As he continued he felt like someone was watching him the whole time as he was praying. He then said the words "Let any unclean spirits that dwell here, be cast out" and all of a sudden it was silent and he said he felt like at that moment whatever was there was then outside the house and was watching through the window and couldnt come back in. It was crazy amazing. I was so grateful to be there. Oh and the best part was that Jessica and her daughter got blessings, but so did her husband who is super catholic. He wanted one and told Jessica later that he could "see himself doing that one day" (in regards to being a member of the church) AWESOME, RIGHT?!

Things have been going really well with Bro Schmidt. He has been doing everything that we assign him to do and is more than ready to be baptized. He hasnt smoked since August 1st and made the decision to start the month off right and go cold turkey. Him and Sis Bosquet are going to be married by the bishop on August 17th and I can not wait! We're gonna have a wedding!! People in the ward are making a beautiful cake and someone offered to do the flower arrangements. She wants something very small and its going to be BEAUTIFUL!! I cant even wait! He is so dedicated to be baptized and they are basically counting down the days until they can go to the temple and be sealed. I am really hoping that i will be able to go with them when they are sealed. How amazing would that be?!

So on Friday we went on exchanges. Sister Giani (my awesome mtc companion) came with Sis Powell and I while Sis Tittle (sis gianis companion) and Sis Dalton went to mission leadership council. Basically it was the best exchange ive ever been on. 1. because sis giani is like my other half and i love her 2. because we got to craft wedding decorations for a less active in our ward (Sis Luke) and 3. because we literally got to roll around in a giant human size hamster ball. Haha, im not kidding. Sis Luke has this huge inflatable hamster ball that you can climb inside and roll around in. All three of us got in to it at the same time and we were DYING laughing. I could not even handle it. I have plenty of pictures that I will send today. You guys have to see this thing. Im pretty sure I will have to invest in one of them when I get home. It was a blast! Not your typical day in the missionary life, thats for sure! HAHA.

Sadly, Sister Grant (the best trainer of all time) was released but she has a year to decide whether or not she wants to come back out here. I really hope she does but I definitely think she needs to focus on getting better first and then she can make that decision. One thing at a time, people.

Familia, Elder Wilcox (from provo) is coming home today from his mission and has a box for you guys. Its just a bunch of random letters and stuff. Nothing too exciting, but he will be dropping that off for you guys this week!

I hope everyone is doing well and PLEASE keep me in your prayers. I need them this week. I have a big week as a new trainer ahead of me. :) Ill send pictures of my new missionary as soon as i can! Im sure everything will be great. The Lord knows what he is doing.

I love you all and miss you all! Thank you everyone who sent me letters or packages this week. you are truly amazing for taking that time to do so!

LOVE YOU GUYS!!

love,

sister allen

An email from Sister Allen...

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!!

wow, this past week has been crazy and a lot of amazing miracles were seen this week.

On Thursday night we were supposed to go and see a family but they ended up canceling on us. We honestly had no idea where to go or where to look and so we decided to pray and ask heavenly father to guide us where he needed us to go. After the prayer, Sister Powell said that she thought of a road called Scott Street. She said she doesnt know where it is or why it came to her mind but thats just what she thought of and she had heard of it one time before. Well, Scott Street is in my area and thats where our investigator Jeff lived. We headed over to Scott Street thinking that we needed to see Jeff. We met with Jeff for a second and as we were about to walk down the rest of the street, I remembered a woman that lived right next to and behind Jeffs house. Her house couldnt be seen from the street but i remember going there with Sis Grant. She was a former investigator of ours and dropped us because she said she "wasnt up for this whole mormon study thing". The last time we went back about a month  before she definitely wasnt interested, but we decided to go anyways. Abena came to the door with a lot different attitude this time and was so kind. She allowed us to come in and told us we looked like we had just walked out of a catalog. haha. Abena had some questions throughout the book of mormon and thinks that church is too boring. She wants the hymns to be more up beat. Well we answered her questions from the BoM and then invited her to come to see a baptism on saturday. Abena came and really enjoyed it! We are going back this week and it is a miracle that we chose to go see her when we did. She is really looking for answers and i think we have those answers for her.

Saturday was an amazing day for my testimony. My testimony of the power of the preisthood increased ten fold that day. We were referred to a woman named Terry by someone in the ward. She lives in one of the more rough areas in town and has been through a lot. This neighborhood is one that we arent supposed to go in at night because its so sketchy. Anyways, Terry has been through a lot and she really needs christ in her life. A couple of days before we went over there she had some very intense experiences and so she was emotionally and physically unstable. I decided that we should go down a couple houses to a members home to see if they could give her a preistgood blessing. Bro Patterson came down with us and before we explained to him the importance of preisthood blessings. I sat next to her the whole time and held  her hand as he gave her the blessing. As soon as he started saying the blessing, i felt this calming rush of peace and chills run through my body. I could feel the spirit so strong and i started to cry. I

 still dont know why i was crying, but i think it was because I could feel how much pain she was going through and the words kept popping in to my head "This is who you were sent here to help". It was unreal. Afterwards, she was so calm and i knew she felt the difference. Terry looked at sis dalton and I and said "you both look so familiar. are you guys sisters? are you sure i have never met you before?" Chills ran down my spine and I feel like there is a chance that I have met Terri before. She doesnt know where she would know us from and she told us that we are her angels sent from heaven. We hope to continue teaching her but are giving her a couple of days to recuperate from the past weeks problems. What an amazing experience and i really hope that she is the one i was sent here for. I really think I might be. The craziest part was that we had a lesson scheduled at the time we saw her and last minute they canceled on us because we had work. The first name that popped in to my head was terri and i knew we were at the right place, at the right time.

Last night was another amazing experience! WE HAVE A BAPTISM COMING UP! So last night, we had dinner over at a members home and they invited Sis Bosquet (shes a member) and her husband Bro. Schmit (nonmember) over to dinner as well. We had planned on teaching Bro Schmit the first lesson after dinner. After dinner we started the lesson and he told us that he had taken the discussions before but that was a long time ago back when they were in Idaho. He said he was really ready this time because he got a sign from God that this is where he needed to be. Last week, Sis. Bosquet and Bro Schmit were at the Hands for Hope center in town. Bro Schmit was outside waiting for his wife when an older man came up to him and gave him a penny with a cross stamped in to it.The man gave it to Bro Schmit and said "It makes sense to believe in God." and just like that the guy was gone. Bro Schmit had been praying to God for an answer to what he should do next with his life. He now wears that penny around his neck on a necklace as a reminder that this is where he needs to go next with his life. So we went through part of a lesson and i felt like i should ask him to be baptized. I said "Bro Schmit, when you come to know that what we teach is true, will you follow the example of jesus christ and be baptized by someone holding the preisthood authority of God?"...it came out flawless. (surprisingly because  was so nervous.) And without hesitation, he answered with the most amazing word i had ever heard..."YES" I let out a deep breath and then Sis Powell came to the rescue and asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized on August 31st. He said he would and thats what date we are aiming for. He just has to do two things...quit cold turkey on smoking and marry his wife. They got married by a medicine man on the reservation but want something more official. My first time asking someone to be baptized is one i will never forget. What an amazing thing he is doing for his wife and he talked about getting sealed in the temple next year and it just gave me chills.

I have an official tan line from my shoes. So i guess you could say i am now officially a missionary. haha.

I was voted the "Cutest Sister Missionary" that has ever come to the Feather River ward, besides Sister Grant. haha. so that was pretty great.

I also love to throw up the hang loose, cowabunga hand gesture while im talking and without fail every time i do it someone freaks out cause they think im throwing up a gang sign. welcome to yuba city, people. i try to explain to them its a habit picked up from college and they just think im trying to cause problems. haha. Its like "oh yeah, totally (hang loose hand gesture)" "WOAHHH! what are you doin?!" thats how it goes every time. without fail.

Sister Dalton gave me a list of 6 things that she has learned from me:

1. cleanliness is important, even if you are tired

2. Have confidence

3. Its good to share personal experiences

4. Appearance matters

5. Dont slow down to change lanes

6. Greenie Fire is great! haha

Sorry this email is all over the place, but i am really excited to see great things happening out here. Its exactly what we needed and heavenly father is watching out for us. This is the last week of the transfer and I cant believe I have arleady been out in the field for 6 weeks. 8 weeks including the MTC. CRAZY! Thank you to everyone for the packages and love. I really appreciate it all and its the only thing that gets me through each week...well that and lots of prayers. :)

We are seeing lots of miracles out here and i know that as we continue to pray and ask for miracles that the Lord will allow us those as long as we are ready and worthy to recieve them.

Everyone is amazing and I am so privelaged to be serving the Lord.

Make an effort to find opportunities to serve at home and keep being awesome everybody!

I love you all and miss you all like crazy. (still.)

Love,

Sister Allen

sisterlexisallen.blogspot.com

An email from Sister Allen...

Hey everybody!

has this week been crazy or what? Being in this trio is just go, go, go all the time. With two areas and two wards, we are just crazy busy all the time. But its pretty nice because I would rather be busy then trying to find something to do.

Mom, i know you were worried about my situation for meals...but dont worry, i am being taken care of. The ward feeds us every night for dinner and we get to go grocery shopping for breakfast and dinner. I usually have hummus or a sandwich for lunch. For breakfast we make a spinach smoothie. Its my new thing. Spinach, banana, milk, and a little bit of nesquilk. Its super good and very healthy which is even better. :) Oh and this week the Elders brought over a $60 gift card from some random less active person in our ward. It was so nice of whoever it was but we eat at subway every once in a while because it is just across the street.

Every morning we ride our bikes a mile down the road to a park where we run around the park for 30 minutes. Its a really nice park and i usually do stairs, lunges, or whatever my heart so desires. We have also been going to soccer some mornings at the stake center. The elders all play at 6am in the cultural hall gym. Its actually super fun and even though im not that good, i try my best. Im definitely getting better but its all fun and games. I just usually try to avoid getting passed to...i did score a goal though in our game on saturday. Go ME! haha.

Sister Dalton and Sister Powell have been great. We are all above 5' 8" and so everyone calls us the "tall trio". Sister Dalton is from New Jersey and graduated from Dartmouth (ivy league, i know!)...she wants to be a midwife and i told her she could deliver my babies one day. She has been out for ten months and is in charge of driving the car. Lets just say she is a bit of a cautious driver haha. We were driving the other day and she was trying to get in to the other lane and she slows down WAY slow so she is holding up traffic behind her. Well that day the lady behind us was not happy and totally flipped us off. hahaha. Sis Dalton didnt see and i ended up telling her later that night. It was so funny. She drives WAY slower than the speed limit which i am not used to. But, hey, at least im safe. :) Sister Powell is from Rexburg and has been out here for about 3 months. She is cool and knows everything about the bible. She can whip any scripture out and knows all the stories of the bible. Its really helpful in lessons haha. She is 21 and loves rexburg and will defend that city until the day she dies...ive already told her how i felt about rexburg and thats when she started trying to convince me of why rexburg wasnt that bad. i still promise myself i will never go back, even after talking to her. haha.

The city next to us had their giant peach festival this weekend. Its pretty huge and they have peach everything. Peach jam, peach tea, peach ice cream, etc. Because it wasnt in our area we didnt get to go. so we had our own peach festival consisting of buying our own fresh peaches from a fruit stand and enjoying some peach ice cream from a members house. gotta make do somehow.

In the Buttes Vista area, there is a retirement home that we go to every day. It is called Yuba Manor and let me tell you, it is always an adventure...There is a lady named Lois who lives there and she forgets everything in two minutes. She cant hear well or read well either. Its hilarious because every time we are there she stops and asks us our names. Every time we pick something different. On Saturday I told her my name was Sister Allen. She goes, "Allen?! Isnt that a boys name?! Whats your last name?" I could barely hold back my laughing and just said "My last name is Johnson". She looked at me so confused and basically yells, "ALLEN JOHNSON?! HUH? And not a boy?!" We make up new names every time we see her and it is hilarious! Plus she gets right up next to your face so she can hear you. I cant even handle her...Oh Lois. Oh Yuba Manor...classic. And then there is Jim, he is the crankiest old man i have ever met. He is 81 and has a baptismal date for August 10th. He is always so angry because the food sucks at Yuba Manor. We buy him corned beef hash because thats the only thing he will eat. Jim has been free of tobacco and coffee for 12 days now after being hooked on it for 62 years. It really is a miracle and i know he sees it too even though hes stubborn.

We met this man in my area named Narayna (N-orion-ah) who is really interested in the book of mormon. It was amazing because we went to go see a less active and as we were walking back to the car he came out with his daughter. She is 3 and literally the most darling little girl. He is in his mid 20s and after Sis Powell got done explaning about the book of mormon and the restoration he just goes "Hm...i get it. That really all makes sense to me." UH WHAT? who says that? no one. thats who. because it was like it wasnt real life. but it was and he wants us to come back and teach him. The best part was when i was talking to him about being a single dad and how my dad was like my best friend and raised me. He goes, "Really? Well i want my daughter to grow up and be just like you some day." Uh yeah...what? that was an unreal experience.

One of the people we are teaching in the Buttes Vista area is so ready to get baptized...but there is a bit of a problem...shes a lesbian. Eeek...she loves the book of mormon and knows everything is true. Her name is Rose and she lives with her partner Donna. they have been together for 30 years and basically donna is the worst and she does nothing for Rose while Rose does everything for her. Rose is completely deaf and only reads lips but she can hear some things through an amplifier and headphones. We have been trying to get her to pray about leaving donna but never really reads our lips correctly. At church yesterday, she told Sis Dalton that she had this dream and an angel came to her and told her that she needed to leave Donna. Woah! The best part was Rose told us, "The only reason i remember the dream so well is cause my favorite Rhianna song was playing in the background the whole time." HAHA. she is such a hoot. literally the funniest person ive met. she NEEDS to get baptized and NEEDS to leave donna. maybe now it looks like more of a possibility to her.

OH! yes! i forgot...everyone really needs to read the talk "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson. its amazing and such a wake up call. its really great.

It is seriously crazy out here but so much fun. A mission is hard. Its VERY hard. But this work is so worth it. I am missing everyone like crazy but I know this is exactly where i need to be.

I keep you all in my prayers and hopefully you are doing the same for us because we need them. :) thank you for every letter, package, note, etc. I appreciate it all and could not ask for better family and friends.

what an experience this is and what a blessing it is to be out here.

i love you all!
Love,

Sister Allen

sisterlexisallen.blogspot.com
ps. i hope everyone is still receiving my emails!