This was taken on Thanksgiving Day

(Sent to me through email from a Sister in California)

This past week was SUPER fun!

How was Thanksgiving for everyone? I heard some funny stories and I wish I was there! My Thanksgiving Day was awesome! We woke up early to play football in the morning and we played for 5 hours with 2 other zones in our mission. All of us were so sore the next day it was hard to move. I don't want to get old! After that we had a dinner at a younger couples house and that is where they sent the picture from where I was in P-Day clothes because we were allowed to wear them on Thanksgiving.  We had some great turkey there and some rice that had carrots, hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, and some other stuff in it and it was really good! After that we went to another dinner at 7 and had tamales  chicken, beef, and some other stuff and when I stood up I thought I was going to have a heart attack, no joke, I had a sharp pain in my chest. I don't want to eat that much again!

Day 100 was Black Friday! We went out at 5 in the morning and put our money together and got a 56 in LG flat screen TV that came with a PS3 and 4 games! Just Kidding! So who went shopping? I know AJ did! What were the great deals and did Amazon have anything special going? Black Friday is probably my favorite holiday out of the year, so I want stories!

Well Mom sent me the best package I have gotten yet! I got dehydrated eggs that taste really really really bad (definitely a survival food), some protein bars, the military scriptures that I really wanted and I will send a picture of what I did with them, a gift card to Walmart (bought 120 eggs yesterday with it!), and some other stuff that I can't quite remember, cuz I probably ate it.

I need to write a ton of letters and I didn't have time yesterday so I am planning on doing it next P-Day. I am saving all the letters that I get so I know who I need to write!

We met a crazy guy in Walmart who believed Jesus was a sinner until he was baptized and didn't even believe baptism is important. I don't understand some peoples train of thought!

We had transfers this weekend! Elder Kaneao and Hosmer got transferred out along with Sister Fankhouser. The new missionaries that are here now I hear are cool so I am excited to meet them!

I also got a guitar from Elder Dial and will try and learn in my free time that I don't have so Cyrus send me some tips!

Well we also had an amazing week with finding and teaching. One of our investigators asked us to baptize him! Also one family that we taught on Saturday came to church the next day! We also found 12 new investigators which is awesome! The Lord is defiantly preparing people and December will be full of baptisms! I love missionary work and being out here serving these people!

I love all of you!

Elder Allen

Elder Allen getting ready for a baptism

 Another picture of the font

Well this week has been a little sucky and pretty good all at the same time! I have been having a blast all the time though because California is super awesome! There are going to be some funny stories in this email so I hope you like it!

 

The first story happened on Friday. I was talking to people in Walmart parking lot because we have to talk to 10 people a day. I gave this one guy a pass along card with our number on it and said if you need any help just let us know. At dinner that day we got a text saying this guy needed help moving. I don't want to write out the whole conversation so I will summarize it. We set up a time to help him on Saturday at 7pm and he told us he was gay and we weren't too worried about it.  By the end of the night he sent us a message saying maybe we shouldn't help him because he thought I was super hot and he said a ton of inappropriate things and it was the gayest thing that has happened to me! We definitively didn't help him!

 Circle K???

 

The other story was Saturday night we went into circle K to get a drink and this black guy who was so incredibly drunk and high came up to us and was mumbling something to us and we couldn't understand. We eventually found out he knew we were Mormons and said he wanted a million dollars. We laughed and said we didn't have that much money. He said ok and we went to get our drinks. He then came over to us and asked if we believed in God and we said yes and he then said then why can't you give me a million dollars? We just said again that we didn't have but $3 on us and he said oh and walked away. It was super funny!!

 

Last night me and Elder Dial went on splits with some members because we needed 10 more lessons to meet our weekly goal.  So me and this returned missionary who has been home for 3 months went to a super ghetto area and knocked on doors. Now our mission president has taught us a new door approach that is super effective. We go to a door and we say we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that right now we are going around blessing peoples homes and families. It will just be 5 or 10 minutes can we come in. It works really well! We go in their home and bless it and mention everyone's name individually and right after ask them to be baptized. No one accepted baptism last night but we got a lot of return appointments and we blessed 8 homes. It was the most fulfilling work I have done in my whole life! I love missionary work!

 

So now I am going to write down my notes.

 

I need contacts soon and don't know how to get them

 

I ate pig skin! it was basically soggy pork rines. Not too bad.

 

It has been about 70 degrees here except today its 60 and a little chilly

 

Me and Elder Dial have been listening to Christmas music and wearing our Santa Hats everywhere its super funny.

 

We have 3 progressing investigators. 2 are an older couple and they are pretty ready for baptism and the other is a guy who doesn't know much and is a little feminine but he is progressing too.

 

I want to go to a couple thrift stores today because I love them!

 

I can't believe Ethan is on Honor Role! Is it your first time? lol I love you Ethan and miss you a ton!!!! Write me soon! PLEASE!

 

I am pretty sure any wrapped present will count as a gift in me and Elder Dial's competition. Thanks Lizzy!

 

Why is everyone moving? Tennessee and now Rhode Island this is crazy!

 

Well my time limit is about up. I love all my family and I really appreciate all the support you give me while I am out here.

 

Love,

Elder Allen

This is Elder Allen's mission

 These are some of the stakes he is living around.

 This is his stake! (area)

Well sorry my email is a day late. We thought since it was Veterans Day that the library would be closed but I don't think it was. It has been a good week, but I am a little sick right now. It started yesterday and I hope it doesn't bother me too much.  Well here are the notes I wrote down!

I got the Shirt Stays Mom and they are awesome! Thanks a ton!

What am I going to get for my 1st Diabetes Birthday? It is Nov.29!

One cool things I noticed is that we have 3 Marquez families in our ward. So Jill and Cisco need to move out here to make it 4!

One cool thing people could send me is Book of Mormon action figures! They are cool!

I went on exchanges this past week with Elder Cook on bike and it was super fun! We are both new (greenies) and we had a great day! When we would go to talk to people and say we are representatives of Jesus Christ, some would say "No hablo ingles" and I would say "Yo hablo espanol!" and they would either look really bummed cuz now I could tell them about the gospel or really excited because I'm white and can say 3 words in Spanish!

I SAW SOME CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm sure he was so EXCITED!

I want to go to the thrift store sometime on P days but we are so busy doing other things so that stinks.

Hey Dad could you send me the book called "The Book of Muscle?"

I'm not too good about testing myself but Elder Dial is defiantly improving.

So I have ate a ton of different food but the weirdest is probably pigs feet with hominy   It was really good! No joke! Some other things that I might eat in the future is tacos de legua (tongue tacos) and menudo (intestine) apparently they are pretty good. We get fed really good here!

This is his church building

 This too...

 and this too!!!

I have attended lots of baptisms of other missionaries here and even spoke at one this week which is really cool!

We have given lots of blessings on people and over there homes which is really cool.

Don't send packages to the Hardy's because I get them later than usual.  I got Robyn's package and wrote here a quick letter and then I got Morgans later that night and didn't have time to write a letter. But I loved the packages and have eaten most of the junk food already but next time pick out some healthier food so I don't get super fat in these next 2 years!

He says he loves the palm trees.

 Elder Allen & Elder Dial

 More palm trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was pretty cold on Saturday and got down to 56 degrees but yesterday was incredibly nice at 76 or somewhere around there.

On Thanksgiving we are planning on playing foolball for a couple hours which will be fun and then we will just go to a bunch of members houses and eat a TON!

Carmen Arevalo was the hermana that I baptized.

Thanks so much everyone for all your support and help that I get from you.  It is amazing out here and I am loving every day!

Gracias

Elder Allen

For all of you who think about Evan and his diabetes!!!

His A1C (3 month test of blood sugars)  It was 5.8 which is REALLY good.  It is AMAZING for him to not be on insulin and still doing this great.  He just got this test done this last Monday. One year ago he was told he had diabetes and his A1C was 12.7 and in 6 weeks got it down to 7.2 and it kept going down and he is still doing so good. I know its because his Heavenly Father knew how bad he wanted to serve his mission!  Some people don't understand this when I tell them but as a Mom I know how BAD he wanted this and nothing was going to stop him from doing it!  I have had people ask me if he was pressured into going and I can say not at all.  He is such a great son!  I love him so much!

I Baptized!

Well hows it going? I have had lots of fun this week and we did lots of work! We actually had a baptism this Saturday and I did it! I didn't even mess up either! I am going to do the usual and write about all the notes I wrote down this week.

 

I got mints in the package and that was awesome cuz I was going to ask for some!

 

Sorry about the letters again I am defiantly going to send a bunch out today, I promise!

 

I saw a lizard this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to catch it so bad and get a cage and everything but they are so crazy fast!  Elder Dial said I will see them all over, so I can't wait!!!  Also apparently there are wild donkeys around here too.

 

On Halloween night we had to be in by 6 or at an organized zone activity. So we watched the other side of heaven at the stake center and then had a huge NERF battle in the gym and it was AWESOME!!!

 

Hey could you get the BOM CDs in Spanish? they are on the church website for like only $11!

 

Also I got the little scriptures you sent but did you have extras? my little book of Mormon is pretty much destroyed so could you send the extra ones you have cuz apparently they are hard to get and I could sell them to the missionaries here lol

 

Could I get return address labels to the mission home?

 

I am planning on sending the pictures today too.

 

Some of these next comments will be answering some of the ?s in your emails

Elder Dial is the one that drives because I am not supposed to drive for the first 3 months

 

It is so funny that Mazie is in heat! hahhahahahaha

 

Hey could you check at the goodwills for the skinny ties with flat bottoms? I got one here and it is so cool!

 

So NYC with Paolo and his family was fun! That is super cool! I think California is cooler though lol

 

I loved the package you sent mom.  I missed my basketball shoes. It was funny you sent it to the members house though. My address will be at the bottom.

 

I will put my A1C in the letter if I get it done today.

 

Walmart cards should be fine THANKS!

 

I just don't need a mattress pad at the moment k mom : ) If I have a gross mattress in the future then I will got buy one

 This is Elder Allen's food cupboard and the bottom shelf in the frig is his because it has 2 coconuts on it!

 

I haven't grocery shopped in a while but we are going today and I will try and stay under $20 but you know me at the grocery store right mom!

 

Church is getting easier to understand what they are talking about but it is hard to make any comments

 Nice work out room in his apartment!

Me and Elder Dial are getting along well and working out in the mornings really hard!

 

We have Multi Zone Conference on Thursday so that will be really fun!

 

Transfers are in about 3 weeks but I will defiantly still be here for at least a total of 3 months and even then I think I will stay for a little longer.

 

I haven't seen President Smart since I got to Moreno Valley.

 

Send me some powdered eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am having fun out here and doing work.  I am always exhausted when I get home.  I love all the awesome things everyone does for me here and love all of you. Thanks!!

 

Elder Allen

Here are some pictures of his apartment!

 Elder Allen's Desk (send him a picture and he will post it up)

 He has his own bathroom!

 Looks like he needs my help cleaning!

 Elder Dial and Elder Allen's Cali flag!

 Nice linen closet!

 Elder Allen's very own closet!

View of his apartment