These were my emails from Evan this week

he said he didn't have time to write to you all but here's the news I got.

Well I haven't got your email for this week for some reason!  I sent to many pictures to him!! Had to re email him. I did get transferred and my companion is Elder Santos and I live with Elder Prieto and Elder Baltazar! Baltazar is one of his favorite MTC buddies! I love it here in Hemet but I don't like being a zone leader! It is just so much more stuff to do! So many meeting too! Elder Johnson says hi!  Johnson is from Toledo Ohio. We are basically in the same zone! They split the zones here in this stake and he is in the other zone. I did my blood test too so the results are going to be here any day now. I am telling you it will be higher than 8.5 though. I am doing better though so don't worry about that. I might need some more lantus sometime! I am going to hit a year in 10 days ! Isn't that crazy! I can't believe it! I hear from tons of other missionaries that time gets even faster after your year and you start having all your lasts like last thanksgiving and Christmas and stuff. I am going to be home in no time I guess. I love my mission though and I hope it doesn't go that fast! I love you mom and sorry this isn't a big email and I can't write a big email for everyone this week. We have to use computers in the stake center too which stinks. The library here isn't open on Mondays. I love you a ton MOM!!! I can't believe your two big boys are gone! I already miss Ethan too and its been almost a year lol. 
Well I don't have time sorry! I love the pictures and I don't need too much just lantus insulin. I love my companion Elder Santos he is from Uruguay and we have fun. He is pretty goofy  I was around him in the Jurupa zone though so I know him already. I gotta get going but I love you! I email at 9 every morning from now on so you gotta get your emails in a little earlier lol!!

Elder Allen

He seems to be doing real well and I'm so proud of him being a zone leader!!  He may not like it but we all know it will be a great leadership training for him.  I'm so glad he loves what he is doing it makes being away from him so much easier knowing he is having fun and serving too!  I don't have any new pictures yet I will need to get on him about that!  I need to up date him companion section of the blog.

He has a new address on the blog so write him he loves mail!

My Missionary from almost 1 year ago!

Elder Allen and his #1 FAN!!!

most of the time...

Well just like I say every week, Time is flying by! I think I might get transferred which would stink because I love this area and Elder Harris and I are pretty tight. Nothing too big happened this week, just that no one came to church who we have found the past two weeks! It gets frustrating but its cool.

 

Before church, like 5 minutes before, we went to some investigators houses and at the last one they walked us up to their goats and asked if we wanted some milk. We said sure and they just grabbed some cups and squirted the milk right in and added some chocolate and handed it to us. It was actually pretty good but it was warm and you could see right in front of you where it was coming from.

 

We had a NERF war a zone today and it was fun shooting the sister missionaries!!!! REVENGE!!! Well nothing else is going to happen today because as it is the end of the month, we are scrounging around for money and feel poorer than dirt like usual! We might go hit some golf balls off a cliff though so that will be fun.

 

If I leave this area I will miss the Navarete family a ton. They are like the coolest members ever and we always can call them up if we need lunch or dinner. I am totally going to come back to visit them!

 

Well that's all for this week! Thanks for all the emails everyone I always love them!!!!

 

Elder Allen

I'm so close to telling him I don't have time!

I won't though...

This is my email for this week!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a happy MOM!

Well sorry mom I can't do too much today. I am moving to Hemet so I will send a bigger email next week sorry! It is crazy that Ethan is already leaving! Well I love you mom!

 

Elder Allen

 

Seriously though today will be very busy so I can't write much

That's it????  So don't send anything to him at his old address.   He isn't there!  I will update you where he is living soon!

July 8th

Well nothing big happened this week.

 

Saturday was frustrating! We knocked on a good 25 to 30 houses to see investigators, potentials, less actives, and no one answered the door! We need to find new people to teach! I am getting bummed out because the work has slowed down.

 

I got Jenny's package and the tie was sooo cool! I wore it the next day! It was cool to hear about the new stuff going on in their lives too! I love hearing about stuff going on back home.

 

I heard Anderson Silva lost!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! I need some details about it please!

 

I am going to get blood work done sometime this week or beginning of next week so hopefully it comes out good!

 

Other than that nothing else too interesting went on. Thanks for everything everyone does for me out here! I miss you all!

 

Elder Allen

July 15th

Well this week we got sick and its been a little rough. We found 12 new investigators though so we got some work to do!

 

We dressed up as cows and went to 2 chik fil a s and got free food! It was soo good.

 

I hit 11 months today! How crazy is that! Time is ridiculous out here!!!!

 

Well thats all folks sorry for it being so short!

 

I miss you all!

 

Elder Allen

3 Weeks of emails

June 17, 2013

Well there are a couple of notes I wrote down so here they are.

 

I need my big English Preach My Gospel that I sent home. Sorry

 

I got the weights that Elder Dial had and I am so excited to start working out harder with them! Our workout area looks pretty cool for being in a barn.

 

 We had a baptism on Saturday after the transfer party and it went really smooth but the Tino's wife, Alma, was supposed to get baptized but she called saying she was sick and so we will have it next Sunday. Ivette Guijarro got baptized though and she is 11 and her whole family are members. There is a picture at the bottom. Us and the senior couple missionaries, the Rogers, taught her and Elder Rogers baptized her. It was really cool.

 

Did you guys get my paintings?

 

Rudi sent me a $20 Chik-Fil-A gift card for my birthday and I just used it. We went after the temple for milkshakes and when I got the balance back it said $88! I asked them about it and it was still the same so there was $100 on it. It's so cool but I hope Rudi didn't really pay a whole $100 that would be crazy!

 

I hit 10 months this past Saturday! Time has been going too fast!

 

Well I am staying here in Jurupa with Elder Harris again and I have a district full of sister missionaries so I don't have to go on exchanges!!! I don't like leaving my area. Nothing too big happen. Only a few missionaries that I know are leaving the mission and one is Elder Green from my MTC district. He seems fine with it though. My zone got split too so now the Jurupa stake has 2 zones of missionaries in it. I am excited for this upcoming transfer and it should be good!

 

The transfer party was fun and I loved seeing everyone I knew from Moreno Valley and the MTC. Nothing else too big happened there.

 

Well that should be all. I miss you Mom and Dad! I love it out here and am ready to get some more work done!

 

Elder Allen

 

PS I found a corn field out here! Check it out! I felt so at home!

June 24, 2013

So I am just going to write down the stuff from my notes for the week.

 

We play board games at night when we have time in the barn with Elder Knudsen and Tchan. I record them with my mp3 player and only Elder Harris knows I do. It is so funny because the other two say really stupid/funny stuff. They also get really mad and its funny to listen to afterwards.

 

Faustino and Orlando his son got the priesthood on Sunday and Javier, Omar's brother, passed the sacrament and it was really cool! I love seeing people progress in the gospel!

 

We just went to Costco and got $1.50 Hot Dogs and Drinks and then I bought some eggs too.

 

We are in the process of finding knew people and it is super frustrating because now we have to knock on doors again and look for people who used to be taught. I am hoping we find 6 new people to teach this week

 

I don't know if I have told you guys this but we have a pet black widow named Boyf ( the F is silent so its pronounced like boy). Anyway, we caught a cockroach and put it in and the black widow caught it and they fought but Boyf won. I have a video of it and it is super sweet, like you-tube material! Anyway it is huge now and we are looking for a grasshopper as its next victim, then a lizard!!!!!! That would be so awesome!

 

Javier, the one that just passed the sacrament, is 13 years old and he wrote a love note to one of the sister missionaries in our ward. It was pretty funny but now we have to go talk to him about it and tell him how missionaries can't go on dates and stuff. I laughed quite a bit because it is a funny note.

 

Shout out to Laparra and Beeston. I am so jealous you are companions!

 

Well to end the email, we had a baptism! Faustino's wife got baptized and that completed the family. Her name is Alma and she said she loved her baptism and it is so cool to have introduced the gospel to a family that never knew of it before. We are visiting them every day and helping them set goals to keep progressing. I love this family and it motivates me to keep searching for those people that are being prepared by God to listen to our message.

I learned how to tie a new knot and here is my desk

 

That's all I got and I plan on sending a bunch of pictures so what isn't on here should be on my blog when my Mom updates it! I love you MOM!!! Well gotta go!

 

Elder Allen

July 1, 2013

Well most of the days this week has gotten into the 100's and it has been really hot. It is a different kind of hot though. If you find some shade then it is a lot cooler and you don't get as sticky as fast, I really don't like humidity.

 

Elder Harris and I found some new people to teach and I am pretty excited about that. We haven't had anyone for the past week and a half and it was getting frustrating.

 

The Vargas family that got baptized over the past month is basically finished. Alma, the mother, got the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting and now we will be focusing on the temple with them. It will be so cool to come back in a year and go to the temple with them!

 

Can you believe it is already July?! I feel like it was just May! Time flies out here but a missionary that was here came back to visit and I asked him if time slows down when you get home and he said it definitely does. I just can't believe how fast it has gone by!

 

I am almost about to finish my first journal and I got a second one too. I haven't missed a day yet and I hope I can keep it up!

 

There is a team-up in the ward that we take out quite a bit and his name is Ramon. He is 18 and his papers just got finished and I gave him the Melchizedek priesthood. It was really cool and I can't wait to see where he gets called to!

 

Nothing else really happened this week except our black widow ate another spider and a lizard so it is basically a beast!

 

Thanks for all the support! I miss you all! Don't forget to write back! It has been about a month for some of you!

 

Elder Allen

 

PS This is our spider and it ate the one on the ground! And here is a California sunset!

I am really tired and want to just lay down so this might be a little short.

 

We get to go to the temple on Friday! Saturday morning we have the transfer meeting so we will know then if we will stay here in this mission or if we will leave and go to another mission. I am a little nervous but I am pretty sure I will stay here.

 

I got to see ELDER BEESTON this week! He is such a stud! We talked about Baltz and Moyer and Jensen and Green. The MTC life was so fun and easy and now we are in California! Elder beeston wore the skinniest of ties and it was so sick and I was so jealous! I want to grow up some day and be like Elder Beeston!

 

Well now that I got some gay out of me we can talk about the important stuff. We had a baptism yesterday! Omar who got baptized last transfer baptized his little brother! It was so cool and I loved seeing them in the water and I remembered first meeting Omar. He looked like a cholo (gangster). I love seeing people change and want to improve their lives! Javier is Omar's brother, he is 12 and we have been waiting about a month for his mom to let him be baptized and we found out Saturday night that he got her signature and we knew we had to do it fast so she didn't change her mind. Javier is excited to join the Boy Scouts in the ward and stay out of trouble.

 

Well nothing.. wait.. Elder Harris fell when we were racing and hit his head on the pavement and was bleeding everywhere before I had to do a baptismal interview and he had to go to the bathroom while I did the interview so the parent of this kid I interviewed didn't see him. The fall was hilarious but once I saw the blood I got scared. He is fine now though and the cut is in his eyebrow so you can't even tell. His eye is a little black but he's fine.

 

Anyway there is nothing else left to say besides this Saturday I hit 10 months and time is going by way to fast! I love you all and can't wait to see you!

 

Elder Allen

Elder Harris & Elder Allen

Orlando, Ivan & Blendys

Well it was a great week because yesterday we had 3 baptisms! Tino, the guy who got baptized, has 3 kids who got baptized too! There names are Blendys 15 Orlando 14 and Ivan 10. It was an awesome baptism and I baptized them. The two older kids had to be done twice because they didn't go all the way under but the youngest was perfect. The mom should be baptized this coming week or the following. I love baptisms and I could care less about all other aspects of the mission like leadership and meetings if I am helping people progress towards baptism and I get so much joy out of it! I love this work and especially being able to be apart of so many people's conversion.

Ummmm other than the baptism the week was kind of uneventful and nothing too funny or out of the ordinary happened. Sorry the email is a bit short but There isn't much else to say. Maybe send me some suggestions of things I can add into my emails to make them more interesting. I love you all!

Elder Allen

Week of May 28th

We went on back to back exchanges this week and it was pretty fun because you are with a different missionary for 3 days in a row.

 

Omar, who got baptized April 27th blessed the sacrament on Sunday which was really cool!

 

It hasn't been too hot here but definitely more hot than in Ohio.

 

Yesterday was P Day and we went shopping and stuff and I got a new pair of shoes to just walk around in and they are really cool! We also were looking for a place to eat and Elder Knudsen said he knew a really good place that wasn't too expensive and so we went to Anchos southwest bar and grill. We opened the menu and the cheapest thing were these 10 dollar nachos! We were about walked out but the guy already brought our chips and salsa and tortillas (handmade!) They were good but we decided to just get one plate of these nachos and split it among ourselves. Only three of us ate and so the nachos came and there were 12 chips on the plate so we each got 4 chips mmmmmm! We were angry so we just hurried and paid and left and Elder Knudsen is no allowed to pick where we eat anymore!

 

Elder Allen & Tino & Elder Harris 

We had a miracle this past week. We found an investigator named Tino the first week Elder Harris and I were together. Him and his whole family came to church the next Sunday and he seemed super ready for baptism. He was on date for May 26th and we met with him the second week and he seemed like he changed and didn't want to do anything to progress. He even said he didn't want to live with God again after this life. At the beginning of this past week he told us that he would give us 2 weeks to change him and if he didn't feel any different afterwards then we couldn't come back over. Elder Harris was in our area the next two days to have lessons with him while we were on splits and exchanges. Elder Harris told me how Tino was acting different and was starting to read and wanted to be a better example for his kids. On Friday I was on exchanges in our area with Elder Tchan and we went over there and Tino asked me if he could come teach people with us like how we would bring team-ups over to his house. I told him he needed to be baptized first and he said ok. I asked him if he wanted to do it this Sunday, and he said yeah why not. So we went inside and we read some of the Book of Mormon. We then went over the baptismal questions and he didn't have any problems with the questions but we knew prior that he had problems with drugs but he said he stopped when we told him to the first week. So we set up the interview for Saturday and he passed! We were so excited and knew that Tino had to be baptized right now. We had the baptism and he was reading the Book of Mormon while the font was filling up and he was crying too. I truly saw the gospel changed this mans life and the blessings of recognizing God's love in our lives. We taught him last night and his two sons are on date and he is talking about getting sealed to his wife. We have work ahead of us but I know we are so ready to bring this family into the gospel even if it is one at a time.

 

Well I love all you guys back home and can't wait to hang out after I get home!

 

Elder Allen

This is Elder Allen living in his BARN!

PS We had some fun during lunch and decided to all jump on Elder Knudsen's back! It goes Elder Knudsen, Tchan, Me, then Harris. We all live in the barn together!