Friday already?

Hola family!
Wow this week really did fly by fast, we had a multizona with president and I came away with a list of things that I need to do and habits I need to form to be a better missionary, as well as a few clarifications of the rules. One of which has to do with only 1 hour on the computer every week, so my letters will be shorter. We had a good week, we have a golden investigator, who is going to get baptized this sunday, we are really excited for him. although he has been looking for another house and he might wind up living outside of our ward boundaries shortly after he gets baptized. We have been looking for the references from the temple, and have been wandering the streets usually durring the hottest time of the day, which isn't the funnest, but it could definately be worse, since the hottest time of day is probably only in the mid 90s. The water for all of Santa Ana went out very early in the morning on thursday, so we are without water for the second day in a row. Sadly we didn't have our pila full, but there is a little faucet in our house that has a little trickle of water that will come out of it, so we've been catching that and we used that to bathe in and to wash our hands, but there is not enough water to flush the toilets, so thats getting a little gross. Also the dishes are starting to pile up. We are hoping that the water comes back tonight or tomorrow so we can wash our dishes, and take real showers, and flush the toilets, and so everyone who doesn't buy purified water can have water to drink. They had water trucks that came around and people came running with anything that could carry water to be able to bring it back to their houses. There were some people that were carrying water at least a quarter of a mile last night one five gallon bucket at a time. Really you don't appreciate what you have until its gone.
Mom, thanks for the recipe for snickerdoodles, the only thing I haven't been able to find is Cream of Tartar (people don't bake much here) so I don't know if there is some way I could make it, or if there is a substitute for it... :D
In my personal study I have been studying about the blessings that correlate with keeping the commandments, because blessings come from obedience to the laws upon which they are predicated. As I have started from the top of the list of commandments we teach from lesson 4 in chapter 3 of preach my gospel.(first is obedience, then pray always then study the scriptures etc) I have really been impressed by the simplicity of those things that if we do we will be so much stronger and be able to return to live with Heavely Father. I have realized that so often we are like the Israelites in the old testament, who when they were afflicted with fiery serpents, all they had to do was look at the brass serpent and they would be healed, but like Alma says to many died because they would not look. Such a simple thing could have saved them, yet they would not do it. Today we are all surrounded by fiery serpents of the adversary. They come in many forms, however the remedy for them is no less simple, even the primary children know the answers. Have family home evening, personal and family prayer, read the scriptures as a family and personally (in spanish it forms an accronym NOE noche de hogar, oracion, y estudio de las escrituras). when we do these things we too can be protected from the fiery serpents of the adversary.
How often we try to make life so much more complicated than it needs to be. I remember an object lesson I saw once, where the goal is to put a certain amount of sugar and a few big objects like eggs in a jar. If you start with the sugar, there is no room for the eggs, but if you start with the eggs the sugar flows around and fills in the spaces between the eggs. These basics are the eggs, the most important things, and everything else is the sugar, and when we put everything else first of course we can't find time to read our scriptures, pray and have FHE, but if we put them first, everything else that fills our lives will learn to flow around those things that are really basic fundamentals for our spiritual well being.
I Love you all, and I love to hear from you.
Love Hna Allen

Another week bites the dust...

Wow this week has flown by! Hna Woods and I are still together, and still in modelo, my first time to have 2 changes in the same place. Monday we spent almost all day in the office, and in our house getting it ready for the new missionaries. The ones from guatemala came in in bus and were her about 4 so we did their health interviews and settled them into the house, and Hna Woods and I went and worked for an hour(better than not at all), and taught a family about fasting, their son was going to have surgery the next day and they were going to fast for it. The missioneries from Provo(the Hnas already speak spanish and so only had 3 weeks in the MTC) came at about 10, and after we did their interviews and got them settled, we helped Hna Capra back to leave for Belice the next morning. To come on plane from guatemala you can have 2 bags that weigh 50lbs, but to go to belice it is 2 bags that weigh 35 lbs, so she was trying to figure out what she could leave behind. An interesting challenge. She wound up leaving an assortment of clothes and her shampoos, and lotions, and a few other toiletries. Tuesday we had the new people meeting, it was a very different format, go figure different president, but it was good and we learned a lot, and then We had a baptism! Claudia finally got baptised, yeay! I am so excited for her, she is so powerful and I know that the gospel really will change her life. Wednesday we got to work for all of the morning, but we had to go back to the house to wait for the Office elders to bring the suitcases of the Hnas that were leaving, and we waited for a while, they were delayed by a huge rainstorm that we were so thrilled to have been inside when it hit, the other Hnas in modelo didn't have such luck, and they didn't have their umbrellas either. But the Elders finally brought the suitcases, and we visited a menos activo that said she is coming back to church on sunday even if it means she loses her weekend job. :D
Thursday we had our district meeting and we taught a few really positive investigators and we planned a wedding for this saturday for one of the investigators and a menos activo. :) He has a fecha for next Sat. :)
And now we are to Friday once again.
Anyway, things are going well her in modelo, and the nursing part has been relatively quiet, only the new missionaries that came from Provo are sick, which is just the shock of the food and culture being so different, they'll be better in a few days. I think that is another reason why the CCM is such a good thing, because it gives us the opportunity to be sick when we are close to the bathroom all day.
This week I've been studying about how important it is to understand who we are. We are children of Heavenly Father, and when we can understand our divine heritage, we can understand that we are capable of so much, and also that there is nothing and no one but our selves that can keep us from Heavenly father. It is a great truth, and when we truly understand it we want to do our best and be our best everyday. We realize that nothing is impossible. Our vision of our self worth is infinately increased when we understand our divine potential.
So this week is the last week of The temple open house, and today is our ward's last bus trip but we don't have any investigators to bring this time so we're not going this time. We have gone 2 times and loved every minute, but is takes a lot of working time to go to San Salvador, go through the temple and then come back. Most of an afternoon, and since we really have so little working time to begin with, it really is important to use it in the most effective way, which unfortunately is not going to the temple open house.
BUT there is a chance that we'll get to be a part of the cultural celebration... small, but possible, AND President Cordon said that after the temple opens we'll get to go about once every 3 months(it will be a rotation through the zones, one per pday) on our pday. :D that is exciting. It is also really exciting that we can teach our recent converts that they can go and do baptisms for the dead. In the CCM we learned that the retention rate goes from in the 30% to in the 90% range when recent converts go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead right after their baptism. That is HUGE.
I am learning so much and I love these people so much, and it is such a great opportunity that I have to be here serving them.
Con Amor,
Hna Allen

Hola fam!

SO this week has flown by again. We unfortunately didn't have much time to work this week, with meetings and temple and a few things the ward mission leader wants us to try, they are good, but unfortunately take time, which is such a rare and precious commodity. We have 2 baptism dates before the end of the month, one is a 16 year old, Claudia, she wants to get baptized, but we haven't gotten permission from her parents. SHe actually lives in the area of our zone leaders, but she comes to church with her boyfriend and his family in our ward, so we're teaching her, and the Zone leaders went to her house and taught her mom, which apparently was an interesting experience, she had a lot of questions and then the dad came home drunk and mad, but they have an apt to go back tonight and talk to them again. THe plan is tomorrow for the baptism, and we are praying that her mom will give her permission. Our other baptism date is for next saterday. He is the boyfriend of one of our menos activos, they are going to get married next sat, and then he'll get baptized. with these 2 and the 3 from the other Hnas in our ward, we're on track to meet the goal for the ward. We also have another investigator that we're working with that says he'll get baptized in December(which for him is a huge step) he still hasn't come to church, but he has been talking to the missionaries off and on for most of his married life and all of his family are members, he just hasn't had the desire to be baptized. His daughter and her husband are supposed to come in December and stay for a few weeks and he wants his son in law to baptize him. The family has been having a rough time, one of their sons has a brain tumor, and a few weeks ago the tumor got big enough that he can't walk, before that he couldn't talk. He's going to have surgery on tuesday. We are praying and fasting for him.
We have found a family that went to the temple open house, (our menos activo and her boyfriend brought them) One of the members was supposed to pass to bring them to church, but she had an early meeting and forgot, so they were ready to come, but no one came to bring them. We're having a noche de Hermanamiento tonight, and they said they'd come. :) we'll call and remind them this afternoon while we are waiting for pres and hna Cordon to come and inspect our house.
I continue to find things interesting and funny to me here. Yesterday I was looking at our toilet paper, and I discovered about every 5 squares is a dog with a stop sign that says ¡parè!(stop!) whichis funny because 1 we have used 5 rolls of this TP before I dioscovered this disign, or realized what it is, and 2 none of the stop signs here say that. they all say alto(and all that I saw in guatemala as well). Another funny thing is the other night I discovered that there are frogs that make the sound that the guns for laser tag make. We were trying to figure out what that noise was, (it was dark, and all we could see was a little bit of land and then a wall) so we asked one of the youth, and she said it was a frog. If 1 I hadn't been in a very poor area of central america, and 2 if the sounds were a little closer together I could have believed that some one was playing laser tag on the other side of that wall. It was interesting, and funny to me.
THis week I have been studying about sacrifice(it is what I am teaching tonight in our noche de hermanamiento) and I have been thinking about how we have to be ready to give everything to heavenly father, and sometimes he asks for everything, but more often than not he only asks for a little. But so many people say yes I love Christ and I would do anything for him, oh, but I can't not work on sundays, or I won't be able to eat, oh and paying tithing is just to much to ask, I don't have enough as it is. I can't not play soccer on sundays, and not watching the game on sundays, that I just can't do. He asks us to be obedient, and sometimes(almost always) that requires that we sacrifice something to be obedient. Sometimes it is inconvenient, or hard, or it may even seem impossible, but for the lord nothing is impossible, and if he asks us to do it, he will provide a way that everything will work out in the end. We just have to take the first step. Like the story in Matthew 14 22-33, we have to have the faith and trust to step out of the boat, and then we have to keep out eyes on Christ and not allow the storm or the negative voices or difficulties to pull our eyes from Christ, and we will be able to do the impossible, like walk on the water.
So our job is to be willing to give everything we have, our time, our decisions, our worldy possesions if we have any, to be obedient to the commandments. Sometimes it will require everything, but if we aren't willing to give the little that he has asked of us, how would we ever be willing to give everything.
I have found that the world is pretty black and white. We are obedient or we aren't. A splash of cofee in your chocolate is still coffee. And while we can say that for some reason or another that rule doesn't apply to me, I am the exception, the reality is that the rules and commandments are for everyone. And that 'I am the exeption' is just an excuse to be disobedient. Our agency is a great gift that we have to choose which teacher we will follow, and let's face it if we aren't following christ and being obedient to the commandments, and counsel of our prophet, apostles, and other leaders who have been given the resonsibility to be representatives of Jesus Christ in his kingdom here on earth, we are really choosing to follow the other teacher(Matt 12:30). A quick analysis of the motives and purposes of each of these teachers helps us know who we really want to follow.
option white: Jesus Christ and Heavenly father; Purpose: to help us obtain eternal life, and to help us be able to live in their pressence again.(Moses 1:39 for behold this is mywork and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man) Motive: Love.
OR option black: Lucifer, purpose: to make us miserable like him(2 Ne 2:27), motive: Hatred.
Which teacher would you prefer to follow?
Ok I think thats really all I have time for,
Love you all, Love Hna Allen

¡Hola familia!

SO this week has flown by, it is amazing how fast this change has gone, monday will start week 6. We'll have a baptism tomorrow :D Claudia, she's 16 and she is the girlfriend of one of our members, she has gone to the temple open house 2 times and after she gets baptized she can volunteer with the other youth to put on the booties at the door, she is so excited for that. She is great, she told us the other day that she was late for school because she was reading the book of mormon. :D We are really excited for our first baptism in Modelo 2.

We are still looking for other promising investigators, we have been teaching, and most of the time they are willing to let is keep teaching them, but they don't have any desire to change, and repentance and accepting the restored gospel in your life is really a change. We've had a pretty good week, but a rough one as far as time to work, mon we went to the office, and then I went on divisions with Hna Montalvan and Hna Woods stayed in the house with our post op Hna(Hna Montalvan's comp) and then tues we actually got to work all day, and we taught 9 lessons.(that is a lot for us in a day) Wednesday we had District meeting, then we worked for a few hours and then we went to the temple open house, which was great, it is such a wonderful blessing to have a temple here in El Salvador. THe office elders are really busy sorting through the references from the temple, as well as all the other things that they have to do.

Anyway we got back from the temple at about 1030, and went to bed, and then thursday we had our weekly planning and our interviews with president. And then we got to work for a few hours afterward. TOday is P day and we finally got to clean the house :D and we get to buy more food. Also we have a few other things we want to look for, and we decided yesterday we are going to eat PIZZA! (you can't imagine how excited we are to eat Pizza)

I love the days that we get to work in the area all day, and I love being a missionary. I am glad that our days aren't all the same, I really do like changes, and the healthcare thing has been changes. THe missionaries are pretty healthy right now, a few colds, and some bad food, but nothing really severe this week. My phone has been pretty quiet, which is nice because we didn't really have very much time to work on anything healthcare in the AMs this week.

I am loving learning so much about the gospel. The mission really has helped me see that there really is not grey, either we are putting God first in our lives, and being exactly obedient to all the commandments, or He isn´t really our first priority. And when we say things like, I don't have time to go to church or read my scriptures, we are really saying, I don't have time to dedicate to God. We are showing our lack of faith that he is all powerful, and we are failing our test here on the earth. 'And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them` Abr 3:25.

I love the quote from last conference by Elder Christofferson, he said, 'True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes. In so doing, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny.' That is what we are all to do, to be obedient we have to choose to use our time in this life to what he wants us to do. And there we will have success.

SOmeone sent Hna woods a poem By Longfellow, that is really great,

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

I liked it a lot.
My time is up, Love y'all,
Hna Allen

Hola familia!

This will be short as I don't have much time, we recieved a call from an hermana this morning who was having severe abdominal pain, we did our telephone assessment, and consulted the AMA and we wound up heading to San Salvador to the hospital and turns out she had appendicitis and needed an appy, so we just got back from San Salvador and have a few minutes to write. Things are going well, president Cordon is very nice, and he has a great vision for the mission. We've found a few families that are promising, and we're already seeing miracles from those few VIPs who were able to go the the open house before the official starting day(today). We're hoping to bring a family to the open house on next wednesday.
We still have to go shopping and get food for the week, and we have a cita with an investigator at 530 and supposably correlation at 5(we'll see he's always late) so sorry about how short this was. Hopefully next week will be an almost normal pday.
Love ya'll
Hna Allen