November 26, 2012

Hi all!

I can't believe how hard it is to find time to write in my journal these days! I managed pretty well while I was being trained, but now it seems that all my time has disappeared! I'm still getting it done, though...my journal entries are just a lot less detailed. 

We haven't had a GPS for the past week, and I was pretty nervous...but God has truly blessed me with a sense of direction! You all know how horrible I am with directions...even in Provo...and I still can't even find our way around the Zionsville church building...BUT I have been able to find people's homes without getting lost! It's a miracle! I know that God is helping me. It's like he's giving me the gift of tongues but with directions :) We only got lost really badly once for almost an hour...but know we are being a lot smarter with where we try to go! And we're getting really good at reading maps!

We're really trying to find new investigators. We need to find people to teach! This week we will be studying about different ways to find people, in preparation for next week where we will fast to find new investigators. We are going to really open our minds to unplanned opportunities and revelation that we receive so that we find the people who are ready to hear the restored gospel! I was looking at a paper that talks about finding, and I thought, "How can we implement this in our companionship study this week? I don't know if we'll have time!" But then I looked at the schedule for what we are studying in training, and lo and behold, we're studying Chap. 9 in PMG which talks about finding! God is so good! He knows what we need :) 

We've been updating and planning a lot. I really feel that this planning was needed in order for us to find people, so that we can feel caught up on everything. It's been hard to not be teaching as much as we'd like, but with lots of prayers and faith this week we are going to see miracles! There are people who are just waiting to hear the message we have to share, they just don't know it yet!

We were trying to find a house last week, and all the houses on the street said 101 on the front. That was bizarre...and kind of creepy. 

I'm becoming buds with Robert Bell, dad's first cousin! I see him every week after church, and he always waves when he sees me singing with the choir in the chapel. He has been so nice and he's given us honey from his beehives and also a Subway gift card. What a nice guy!! I'm grateful to have family so close :)

We are singing the Messiah Hallelulah Chorus in our little branch choir--crazy!! Surprisingly, though, it actually is starting to sound pretty good :) That's because every person in our branch is incredibly talented and intelligent and can read complicated music like it's the alphabet. I am so happy that I will be here in Zionsville over Christmas so I can sing the Hallelulah Chorus in sacrament meeting with the coolest people in Indiana :)

We are learning how to plan our days around the goals that we have set--and it's amazing the results that come from doing everything we can to reach those goals! Even if we don't get the numbers we wanted, we still do things we wouldn't have thought of otherwise! We needed to get a member at a lesson yesterday to reach our goal, so we decided to ask the YW if any of them wanted to come with us. Then I thought of passing around a sign-up sheet for them to tell us what days they can come teach with us. One of the YW ended up coming out with us last night! Unfortunately the girl we were supposed to teach wasn't home, and everyone else we tried wasn't home, but in the last 5 minutes of the night we stopped by a guy's house and talked to him about his daughter who he said could definitely use some help and someone to talk to. So even though we didn't reach our goal in getting a lesson with a member present, we were able to talk to that one man and hopefully motivate the YW to be more involved in missionary work! It's so exciting!

Thanksgiving was great! We had our P-Day on Thursday, which was super nice. A lady in the ward invited everyone in the branch who doesn't have family close by or a place to go over to her home for Thanksgiving. She is so great! She also made over 30 pies and had a huge pie party the next night! So yummy! But people keep feeding us SO MUCH food! People think that because we're missionaries we will take two whole pies home and eat the whole thing. But we have learned to just accept them, smile, and then give them to the elders when we see them on Sunday :)

I love the gospel! And I love the spirit! God is just amazing! Love you all so much. This work is incredible. We are part of a great cause! Don't be afraid to share this incredible news with everyone! 

Love,

Sister Allen