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!

Elder Allen and his NEW companion 

Elder Harris!

Well I am kind of low right now and don't have a desire to type so it will be pretty short.

 

So we saw a fight on the street two days ago. A black guy and a Hispanic guy passed each other on the crosswalk and then the black turns around and starts yelling and so they were both in go mode. The black guy had his skate board and the Hispanic had his fists.(we were at a stop light) They start swinging wildly and the black guy catches him in the face with the skateboard and the Hispanic goes limp and falls in the street knocked out. During this people were honking their horns and after the guy got dropped people ran over to them and the black guy just walked off. It was crazy! Oh and the black guy also had a pit bull on a leash that didn't do anything the whole time.

 

Omar who got baptized a couple weeks ago got the priesthood on Sunday!

 

We are in the process of finding new people to teach.

 

I am going to send 2 M Cali T shirts and 1 L. They were pretty cheap so I got em.

 

We have a mission party at the end of the transfer and I am excited to see everyone!

 

Well sorry for the short email, I'm hungry, PEACE!

 

Elder Allen

 Some of these are from our hike this morning hope you like them! I was so tired! Elder Beeston and Laparra were there too because they are in the riverside zone.

 Elder Allen & Elder Harris

 Elder Allen & Elder Beeston

his MTC companion!

They got to spend P-day together!

Elder Allen & Elder Laparra

his last companion...

they also got to hang out together for P-day!

Elder Allen and Sisters!

Elder Allen & Elder Prieto

Elder Evan Allen & 

Elder Hayden Johnson

both from Toledo Ohio Stake

Elder Allen spending the day working with Elder Baltazar one of his favorite Missionaries! (MTC buddy)

Well this week has been very good. First off I got to see a ton of my family! I really loved talking to everyone on Skype and seeing the little things that have changed in the short time since I left.

 I am also excited for the work that Elder Harris and I have going on! We found like 13 new investigators and put a lot of them on date which is awesome. We still need to see them through though because everyone has their own problems and issues that we have to help them with. A family of 5 that we found and taught this week came to church and they really liked it and they are really promising too. We have a 12 year old kid named Javier who is ready for baptism and wants to be baptized but his mother thinks he is too young and so right now he has been trying to prove to his mom that he is ready and it is really cool to see the changes that he has made in his life. The work is progressing and I am loving it every day.

 I am looking forward to the coming week and getting to know Elder Harris more. He is pretty cool, from St.George Utah, taller than me and likes sports. He said he is going to go play college football somewhere in Utah and be a quarterback so he is pretty good. He is only one transfer behind me so we both have a bunch of stuff to learn and I feel like we are doing a good job at it. 

Sorry this email is short but I did just talk to my family and told them most of the things that have happened. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again!

 

Elder Allen

April 8th 

I was waiting for pictures!  Old email!

Well I had a wonderful birthday out here and am no longer a teenager. I guess I should act more mature or something. Well I got plenty of presents and loved everything I got! I got myself a cool Fossil watch and I think it is sweet. I wouldn't have wanted to spend this birthday anywhere else! I miss you all but like I always say I would rather be out here right now.

General Conference was awesome and I really enjoyed it. It is funny how once you like something it goes by faster than usual and that is how it was this weekend, I learned a lot and can't wait to teach what I learned to the investgators I have.

We have a lot of work going on and are always busy. I have started to get compliments on my spanish which gives me more confidence as well. I love being able to communicate with people who before I wouldn't have been able too. I really want to try and find a job where I can use my spanish when I get home.

Today we are going to a huge trampoline place where it is just a bunch of trampolines and you can play dodgeball and stuff. It is called Sky Zone and I am super excited about it!

Other than  that nothing else big has happened this week. I miss you all and thank you for writing me while I am out here!

Elder Allen

 One of his baptisms in the last month!

He is so cool looking!

May 6th

Well we are super busy today so I will send a lot of the details and stories tomorrow if we have time or it will have to wait till next week. All I can say right now is I am staying here in Jurupa. I am moving places so send stuff to the mission office because I can't get mail at my new place. I am going to be a district leader and Elder Harris will be my new companion. There are more changes too but we are leaving now because we have to pick up another missionary. I love you and can't wait to talk to you, mom, on Sunday!

Elder Allen

May 7th

Well I can't email too much here because my new companion doesn't have a valid library card. I will plan on emailing sometime after lunch after church which would be around 3 to 5 my time. that would then mean it would be later your time. I will call you before I get on ok? Sorry I can't write more it has just been hectic and I am tired and need to get back into the groove of things. I love you mom and can't wait to see you!

 

Elder Allen

Elder Allen has been so busy lately I haven't gotten very long emails.  I think he might be waiting to talk to me about all the stuff he is doing so I might have to write to you all after MOTHER'S DAY...I can't wait to hear his voice and see him again! I have a list of questions to ask him!