Me, Sister Aguanta, and our cute branch missionary Sister Lyka.

Hello po! 

Do you know what day it is?  It's......A GREAT DAY TO BE A MISSIONARY!  I am so happy here in Burgos.  We had a great week!  We hit a lot of goals we had made at the beginning of the week, which felt wonderful.  I feel successful!  I have learned here that success is not in the baptisms or in the number of people you teach - it's in the effort and the pure love that you put into your work.  This week was just a normal wonderful working week of effort and love.  We worked hard this week.  I have been enjoying teaching more, and I have been focusing more on following the Spirit than anything else.  It's hard, but it brings so much success.  Our companionship is doing well.  Sister Aguanta is a great missionary!  She is very close to the people in this area, and I can tell that she loves them.  

I am so excited to tell you about two of our investigators, Carmelita and Herminihildo.  They are a couple, around seventy years old, and we have been teaching them for a while.  This week we taught a lesson to Carmelita about baptism.  We had invited her before to be baptized, but she had never really accepted with her whole heart.  This week, we were able to set a date with both of them!  They told us they want to be baptized and that they are ready.  I was so happy.  I couldn't stop smiling.  They are working towards being prepared for their baptism on May 28th.  It's so amazing to watch people's hearts change. We have really seen great progress with them and a few members in the branch have taken them under their wing, which was so wonderful. 

Many other members in our branch, I've noticed, are struggling.  There's a lot of things that I feel are missing from the branch that could help the members become stronger.  Weekly mutual, visiting teaching, and home teaching are just a few.  We have started visiting the members and teaching them to try and strengthen them and we pray for the branch daily.  I'm not sure what else we can do to help the branch to become stronger.  This past Sunday, many people attended and stayed for the whole three hour block, which was wonderful.  Hopefully our efforts in the branch will help them to become stronger members.  Overall, our area is doing well.

Every one is a perfect canidate for the gospel.  No matter what your age, circumstance, country, nationality, or language, the gospel fits.  It works.  But I can tell you, like what was said at general conference last fall, that "it is never too early and it is never too late" to have the gospel in your life.

I love you all so much!  Can't wait to skype you! 

xo Sister Allen

FYI: No, I don't use chopsticks.  Here in the PH, people eat with a spoon, no matter what the meal, and use a fork to push their food onto their spoon.  I do that too when I eat here.  Or a lot of the time, people just eat with their hands.  I don't like doing that.  Do you know how hard it is to eat rice with your hands? Haha it's not a pretty sight.