Prepare Ourselves for Eternal Joy

Hello,

The work here has been pretty good lately. We have been teaching a lot more lessons and visiting members. It has been great. We still do not get a lot of people at church except for Seta Pierre and his daughter Jiselle. They should be getting baptized in a couple of weeks.

This next week is probably my last week in Tamatave but I still do not know for sure. I should be leaving Ambolomadinika though. I also hit my year mark on August 3. It has not felt like I have been here for very long but also it does.

I am grateful for the chance I have had to be here and share a message about the Restoration of the Gospel. I am even more thankful for the opportunity I have had to study, ponder, and pray about this gospel myself, everyday for a year. I plan to do that for the rest of my life. Our lives are such a short piece in an eternity. I do not think we have been placed on this earth without a way to know what is required of us during our short time here. There is a purpose to this life and that purpose is to prepare ourselves for eternal joy. It all leans on the things we do whether we receive that joy or not. I do not think God grants it unto us, he only shows us the way to receive it. If we do not follow the way he has prepared for us than we will not get there. For those who feel they still do not know that way I urge you to start searching. God places things here for us to know his will. His tools are Prophets, Scripture, Prayer, the Holy Spirit, and greatest of all his son Jesus Christ. He is the key and center to everything. Through him, from him, because of him, and in the name of him we can come to know all things.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen

I am Going to Learn A Lot

This has been a good week  for the area of Ambolomadinika. We have been finding alot of cool little families that seem pretty interested in our message.

I am going to learn alot this transfer because i am with a companion that is dying at the end of it. He is a very experienced missionary and really good at the language. I am also a District leader which requires me to conduct meetings, share a lesson, and take reports once a week. I also have to do Baptism Interviews for the missionarys in my district.

Funny Story: The other day my companion and i were talking to our Investigator outside of his house/hut when a chicken completely covered in poop came running out from underneath the house. It must have jumped into a poop bucket in the back. It was way funny to watch the Malagasies notice it, freak out, and then chase it. It smelled way bad.

Nothing much new has happened this week other than that.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen


 Jessica's wedding to come... Sam was there in spirit and in a cardboard cut out... :)

I Can Feel His Love

Hello,
This week has been wonderful and hard at the same time. I got to speak to my family on Skype which was great.

Also the end of the transfer for us has come and my Companion Elder Wilson is heading to Tana. I am staying in Tamatave and Elder Todd Olsen is coming up to me. It is his last transfer so I am killing him here in Ambolomadinika.  I will probably need to stay for another transfer to show the next guy the area. I love this area though so it is all good. I also lived with Elder Olsen before in my last house so this transfer should be great.

My area is doing pretty good right now. We just had some baptisms so we are kind of in a phase of searching for and finding new investigators. Although, the branch here is really strong and full of really spiritual people.

I have a testimony that there is a God, and that he loves us very much. I know that because I can feel his love and know that every one else can as well when they follow his will. Faith is one of the most important aspects of the Gospel. It is actually the first Principle of it. If you do not have Faith then nothing else matters. There are many people that believe that Faith is believing in things that we cannot know are true. That is false. Faith is a hope for things that are not seen however are true. Also Faith is truly related to a seed. It becomes nothing and sometimes dies if you do not nurture it. If we do not give faith in God a chance and follow it, then we will surely lose it. I know that this is true, I have experienced it myself. It is not good enough to have a simple belief on its own. We must act upon it. I can surely testify that if anyone has a desire to know whether there is a loving Heavenly Father and that he continues to guide his children here on earth today, then you need to try and obey all of his commandments and apply all the principles of the Gospel in your life. Until we do so, we will continue to have doubt and be unsure. But as soon as we do so we will instantly feel the power of his holy spirit in our lives and will not be able to deny the answer that we receive.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Give him your love for me

Hello,

My heart is so full this week! It is my Brother's Birthday this Wednesday. I cannot even express how much I love that man. Give him your love for me.

The work here has been going great. Just this last Sunday, I was looking around the church at all the crazy, weird and funny members here in Tamatave, Madagascar. God has changed the lives of so many great families here in the Branch of Ambolomadinika. We have our first baptisms here on the 6th of May. That is the final set date. We are just waiting on some people to get married and others to come to church more often.

Funny Story: The other day we walked to an investigator's house named Benesque. Here in Province you can just walk into peoples homes if you know them, so we did. He was sleeping, passed out on his bed so we didn't want to wake him up. But we needed to leave him a note. So without waking him up, we wrote a note telling him to come to church and placed it right by his bed on his desk. He woke up that day finding a note in his house from the Missionaries. He thought it was funny that we walked around in his house without waking him up. (Homes in Madagascar are one room Huts).

I do not have much to say this week. But I am so very grateful for the gospel and how much wisdom and knowledge comes from it. I know that all the answers are accessible to us if we just read the scriptures and pray to our Heavenly Father. I hopeIi never forget how much God has an effect on my life when I am back home. I know he can help us when it comes to anything, not just spiritual church stuff.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

"The Bible stands for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."

Hello,

Transfers are officially over. I am staying in Ambolomadinka with Elder Wilson. This next Transfer is going to be great. We should definitely have baptisms this transfer. I do not dare say how many because that number might change. But I am really excited about what is to come.

Just this last week a missionary in my house, who only had about a month and a half left, had to go home early, because he fell back in his chair and broke his toe doing so.  He has to have surgery.

We got to watch General Conference this last weekend, it was a really great message to the world. I am so thankful for the gift Apostles and Prophets are to us. There is a a lot of guidance for us in this life if we know where to find it.  As the Love Guru would say, "Lets look at the BIBLE for a second, the Bible stands for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."  I am confident that God has given us all the tools and help we need to have complete joy in this life and the direction to return return back to him. The thing is, we need to be able to recognize his gifts and tools here in our lives. The key to receiving personal revelation about something is to first work for it, ask for it, and be worthy of it. Then you can know the truth of all things through the power of the Holy Ghost. Everything good comes from our Heavenly Father.

Have a good week.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen

 With Elder and Sister Ellis from the Seventy

"That is How it Should be Done."

Hello,

The new transfer has come. I am with Elder Wilson who is a transfer ahead of me on the mission. We get along very well, he is a way cool guy. I love him. My new area is called Ambolomadinka. It is full of the nicest people I have ever met. The area at night looks and sounds like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It is really chill and aesthetic. I love it!!!

The drive up here was a really long curvy road with lots of turns in a packed van. The driver drove as fast as he could just before the right or left axles lifted up off the ground. I was way car sick for the first 4 hours. But then we stopped somewhere in the jungle to get something to eat and then the next 4 hours, I felt pretty good. It was nice. Here in Tamatave, one of the mainstream jobs here is a pous driver who is a guy on a bike pulling a small two man throne with wheels. They are every where. You barter with the guys for the price too.

There is a different dialect here but I actually have not noticed a difference yet, other than a couple of words that you pick up in the first week. So it is pretty cool. The people here do sound cooler though which is fun.

Elder Wilson and I are teaching a guy named Seth from Kansas America who has been living here in Mada for about 2 years with his wife who is also from America. He is a way interesting guy.  He says he is a missionary here too, but he is not part of any faith. He used to be Catholic but now he just reads the bible and lives for God and helping people. He had a lot of questions about Mormonism as he put it. He felt as if all the religions are somewhat confusing. We cleared up some weird things he thought we did, like eat soap, and then we shared our beliefs. Everything we said, he agreed with. And all of the stuff about religion he did not like, we explained how we do things and why.  His response to everything we said was,  "that is how it should be done."  I just kept saying, that is the way it is and was. Teaching him has been a really awesome experience and I'm teaching him in English. He has helped me build my own testimony through all of the questions he asks.  I realize how much more I know it is true and he also realizes how true it is.

Funny Story: One of the days we went to the Shoprite to get some food. As I was walking out, one of the worker ladies looks at me and says, "why do you have that?"  I did not understand what she was talking about exactly and then she pointed at her neck and says, "You are naughty in a sassy way."  I realized she was talking about my birthmark on my neck that looks like a hickey. I tried to explain but she didn't believe me. So i just left.

Funny Story: Elder Wilson and I were in a lesson teaching a guy about the Word of Wisdom. When the neighbors little girl kept looking in through the door and was weirded out by the two white guys. She kept walking in and giggling at us and then leaving. One of the times, she comes in and starts doing a weird little chest shake at us and dancing weird. The guy we were teaching looks at her and just shouts to the neighbors house, "Your child is being Gay, get her out of my house!" Elder Wilson and I started laughing because of what he said while the mother of this little girl comes in and takes her daughter. The little girl was just crying for the rest of the lesson in the other house.  Ha, ha, good times in Mada!

Today for P-day we are going to the beach and then we have a soiree tonight with some members and some good food.  This is the greatest place and Elder Wilson and I work way well together and our sense of humor is the same.   I can tell this transfer is going to be way enjoyable.

Love,
Elder Allen