The Effort for Baptisms

Hello,

We had some baptisms this week. The baptism was great. It was for Jean and Vola who were recently married. They were extremely happy that day.

When ever there is a baptism we have to coordinate it and make sure everything runs smoothly. So, the baptism day can be a little stressful up to the moment that you step into the font with your investigator. Before the baptism, I was running around getting everything ready. I went and got out the white baptismal clothes for Jean and Vola. They were still wet from the last baptisms that had happened 2 weeks before. I also saw that the bathroom that we change our clothes in was way muddy, so I went and got a mop and cleaned it. In the meantime, the Baptismal Font was leaking and the little kids were playing in the puddles surrounding it. That was a little hectic... However I found it very humorous.

While we were meeting with the branch president, I started hearing some one messing around on the piano in the sacrament room. Thinking it was the kids, I asked Elder Monson to go kick them off of the piano and start playing some music to invite the spirit before we got started. When we walked into the sacrament room to execute the plan, the first thing I see is the young women's president trying to play a hymn, but butchering it so bad that I had mistaken her for children messing around. Elder Jakins and I instantly started busting up laughing.

At the end of the baptism, the members started cleaning the church so it would be nice for sacrament meeting the next day. Some one started heading to the bathrooms to start mopping but the branch president's wife who saw me cleaning the boy's bathroom earlier for the baptism stopped her saying that Elder Allen had already covered it. She went and checked anyways and noticed that the girls was still dirty. They instantly went from being thankful and proud of me to judging me for only cleaning the boys but not the girls. I just thought it was a funny situation seeing as it was not my intention to clean the boys bathroom. I just wanted the floor to not be dirty for my feet while I was changing. It happened to make me look bad in the end favoring boys over the girls. We all just laughed about it.

Baptisms are great... When they are finished. :)

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

A Wedding, the Beach and a Lobster to Eat

Hello Everybody,

Early in the week we received great news that one of our investigators was getting married and happened to get all the stuff they needed. We attended their signing at the City Hall last Friday and now they are in the books. They should be getting baptized this coming Saturday.

We have so many families that are kind of in the same situation, where all they need at this point is to be legally married and then they would be able to be baptized. It happens when it happens I guess.

Today it was a holiday so we went to a cool place called Lokaro. It was a really pretty beach that we took pictures.

We happened to find a guy that caught some lobster so we bought some and cooked it all up. It was really good.

Some wisdom from the past week comes from Benjamin Franklin, "A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. A foolish man, his own."

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Happy Events

Hi,

This was a very full week of happy events. I was able to Skype my family on Saturday morning and then later that day had a baptism for two of our investigators. That following Sunday they received the gift of the holy ghost and it was also my birthday. We made pancakes after church and that's how we celebrated.

Skyping home gives you a lot to think about, especially near the end of my mission. That was the last Skype home that I will have and I will be going home on the 18th of July. That is in nine weeks to come.

We gave some new investigators a baptismal date that is in July. It is all just getting so weird and the end of a mission is so indescribable. I will work hard to the end though.

Thank you to everyone that wished me a happy birthday. It was a unique one and I won't have one like it again probably. I am also grateful for my mom and wish her a happy Mother's Day.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

We've Got A Lot Planned

Hello,
Nothing too eventful from this past week except we had an amazing zone conference with Pres. Foote.

There were also a couple of days when I had a bad migraine. That made going out to work very hard. I stayed in on Sunday because I just couldn't work and use my brain any more, let alone open my eyes with out it hurting. I am feeling a lot better now though. My eyes still kind of feel sensitive and sore but my headache is gone.  So back to work.

This next coming week should be great. We get to Skype home this next weekend. Probably Saturday early morning. We will also have some of our investigators getting married and baptized this Saturday!!  And It is my birthday next Sunday as well. We've got a lot of things planned. It should be a pretty good time.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

I sent a picture of Elder Smith sleeping with his eyes open. 

Its like Gandolf in The Lord of the Rings.

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