Me, Sister Aguanta, and our tiny branch missionary Janica.

 (No, she's not a child.  We're the same age.)

Hello po! Naimbag na malim! 

I am doing well.  I am so happy to be here in Burgos! It is a bit difficult to adjust to a new area, especially because I am really bad at directions, but I am getting used to it!  We have a great area with a lot of potential.  Sister Aguanta is a great companion and is helping me figure out the area.  She's a great teacher and we are learning a lot from each other. 

To answer some of your questions:  Yes, we will be able to skype on mother's day!  I'll just have to travel to another city to get to a computer.  Only one month away!  Yay!  There are no computers that I know of in our area right now.  There are some people with smart phones and wifi, but most people just have an old beater cell phone that's just good for calling and texting.  That's what we have, and it works fine. 

This week was a wonderful week.  We were busy working, of course and busy helping people come unto Christ.  Busy learning and growing every day.  I am improving a little bit in Ilocano.  Most people here understand Tagalog and Ilocano, but a lot of them can only speak Ilocano.  I still speak mostly Tagalog here, but I am still learning more and more Ilocano. Hopefully I'll pick more of it up soon! 

We had a great week of setting baptismal dates!  Whoohoo!  When I got here, we had no investigators with a baptismal date.  All the ones that had baptismal dates before got baptized already!  Haha, which is great!  But, we really needed to set some new ones in our work this week.  We set a goal to have two investigators with a baptismal date by the end of the week.  We worked hard, extended baptismal dates, taught and taught, and followed the Spirit.  After all that, we were able to double our goal!  We now have four investigators with a set baptismal date.  Whoohoo!!  Their names are Sherell (15), Angelica (15), Gina (30ish), and Carmelita (70ish).  They are all so wonderful.  I am so excited to keep teaching them and to help them come unto the Christ.  

I want to tell you a little bit about Carmelita:  At first when the missionaries tried to teach her, she refused.  She did not want anything to do with them.  Instead of teaching her, the missionaries began teaching her grandson Jason (16), whom she raised.  Jason liked the message and started making some really big changes in his life.  Before, he hung out with a bad crowd and was doing some bad stuff, but he turned his life around after hearing and knowing the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He was baptized a few months ago.  Carmelita has watched him grow and change.  After seeing how much good the gospel has brought to her grandson, her heart softened.  In an ironic backwards twist, the grandson became the example for his mother-figure grandmother.  She raised him, and now he is helping raise her in the gospel.  We have been teaching her the lessons and have set her a baptismal date for early May.  She also came to church this Sunday!  Yay!  I have faith that she will follow the example of her grandson and be baptized.  She is so wonderful and kind and deserves the amazing love of Jesus Christ in her life, as we all do. 

Also this week was General Conference!  Before my mission, I was never thrilled at the thought of watching talks for the equivalent of about 10 sacrament meetings.  But here in the mission, I have come to cherish the words of the prophets and apostles and I can honestly say I was SO EXCITED for General Conference.  I learned so much.  I felt the Spirit in my heart.  I had a really great experience.  When it was over, I was disappointed.  I wanted more!  That's how I think we should always be, always wanting more light, more truth, more words of the prophets, and more of the Spirit.  I have so many favorite quotes and talks, but I expecially enjoyed the talk by Elder Holland.  I love and echo his words: 

"Keep trying.  Keep trusting.  Keep believing.  Keep growing.  Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."   - Jeffrey R. Holland

I like to imagine our Heavenly Father, our Savior, and all of the loved ones who we have been lost, standing, watching, and cheering us on with encouragements and shouts of love.  I know they watch over us.  I know they strengthen me every day.  Sometimes it's as if I can hear their cheers, see their smiles, and feel the warm glow of their love.  I'll admit, a mission is really hard at times.  There's ups and downs.  There's times when I can say, "I can do this."  And there's times when I feel like I can't. But I know with all my heart that I can do it, because it's not just me alone doing the work.  I am guided, lifted up, comforted, and strengthened every day by angels and by my Savior.  I know that's true for me, and I know that's true for all of you.  I know that heaven is cheering us on!  There's a lot of people waiting and hoping for our success and for our happiness. 

You are all always in my prayers and in my heart.  I am cheering you on!  

I love you with all my heart, 

xo Sister Allen

I love the saying on the bottom the jeepny...

(the owners of the jeepny are members)

Our Branch President getting some buko (coconut) for us. Yum!

Service project fixing the bahay kubo.  

They use it as a shade while they work in the rice fields.

Hello po! Magandang hapon po!  

This week was transfer day....and I have been transferred:  I am now in BURGOS ZONE in the Burgos 1st area.  Burgos is basically the middle of nowhere.  There's fields of corn, rice, and tobacco, and that's pretty much it.  There's no city, no tricys, no ATM, no places to go out to eat.  I'm in the middle of nowhere!  There are little "sari-sari" stores that sell snacks, soda, things like that, but that's pretty much it.  I got kind of stressed at first to be in such a rural area, but now I love it.  The air is fresh and the stars at night are unreal.  There's so many carabou, frogs, and I've heard there's even some monkeys nearby.  It's SO different then my last area, but it love it already.  I am so happy to be here.

Even though there's not much stuff here, there are a lot of members here.  We have one branch in our area, Burgos 1st branch.  There's also tons of less active members in our area.  If they all were still active in the church, we would have a ward here for sure.  My first day here, we just went around and met all the members in our branch, and taught a few lessons to some kids who were recently baptized.  All the members are so kind and helpful.  I was so happy to meet all of them, and they were happy to meet me.  There's a lot of beautiful, kind people here.  Our branch mission leader, Brother Roland, is awesome.  He drives us around everywhere, always feeds us, teaches with us, and is always giving us good ideas to help our area.  At first, I felt kind of embarrassed that he drives us around so much and does so much for us, but I know he is doing it because he loves and supports missionary work.  Which is wonderful!  All the members here are like that.  They are always offering us rides, inviting us to eat at their house, and making sure we are taken care of.  We eat breakfast at home, and then we eat at member's houses for lunch and dinner everyday.  Yay!  It makes me feel right at home. It makes me feel loved.  One member, whose son is also on a mission said, "I always feed the missionaries because I know if I feed you here, my son will also be fed there."  Haha.  I told her that she was right.  

In the Philippines Cauayan Mission, the Burgos Zone has been at the top of the charts, statistic wise, for the last few months.  Things are going really well here.  Missionary work is booming!  Last Saturday here in Burgos zone (before I got here) every set of missionaries had two or more baptisms....wow!  I am excited to be serving in such a progressing area. 

In Burgos, most people don't speak Tagalog....they speak Ilocano.  So I'll have to learn that as well.  Haha!  I felt like I was finally getting good at Tagalog in all the lessons and stuff, but now I've got to start all over and learn Ilocano.  I feel kind of shy to talk to people here sometimes, because I'm not sure if they'll understand me.  But, I am learning!  All of the little kids are always teaching me Ilocano words.  It's so cute, and I actually learn a lot. I'll teach you some of the things I've learned in Ilocano:  "good afternoon" is "naimbag na malim," "beautiful" is "napintas" and "what's your name?" is "anya ti nagan mu?" Ilocano is very different from Tagalog, but I am excited to learn.

The members in our area said it's been a long time since an American has been here.  People, multiple times already, keep calling me "maliit na Amerikana" which is "little American."  They always ask me, "you're from America, why aren't you tall?"  Haha.  I told them it's because both my parents are short (I'm 5'4).  Some of the recent converts in our area - who are teenage boys - are scared of me.  They won't talk to me and sometimes they are shy to even look at me.  Bro. Roland said it's because I am American and I look like a Barbie, and so they're scared of me.  There are no foreigners here in Burgos, besides missionaries, so seeing a foreigner makes them shy I guess.  Hopefully that doesn't last for long! 

My new companion is Sister Aguanta.  She is from Negros Occidental (near Cebu, PH), is 21 years old, and has been in the mission field for one cycle less than me.  She is really nice.  She has a fun personality and is a really great missionary.  She's the youngest of six siblings and is the first missionary in her family.  She has been a member of the church all her life, just like me.  She's a great companion!  Her birthday is in November, just like me too!  She already graduated college in marketing management.  She has been in Burgos 1st for five months, and it is her first area.  I also have two cute housemates, Sister Velasco and Sister Ruyeres, both from the Philippines.  They are so cute and tiny and I love them.  Our apartment is just as nice as my last one.  I even have a normal bed instead of a bunk bed, which I love.  We have a nice bathroom that's bigger than my last one (still bucket showers of course).  We have a cute little kitchen with just a stove and a toaster oven.  And we also have....A WASHING MACHINE.  My life is changed.   I used it this morning.  Yay!  And my favorite part is....there's no rats or mice in our apartment!  That's really all I care about haha.  Our apartment is actually in the area of Sis. Velasco and Sis. Ruyeras, so Sis. Aguanta and I have to travel, about 3 km or so through the rice fields, to our area everyday.  Luckily, we always have a ride!  

Leaving Cauayan City was easier than I thought it would be.  Although, of course, I love and will miss the people there, I felt ready to go to a new place.  I know also that I will see all of the people I love from Cauayan again someday.  I only cried once during all the good-byes I had.  I cried when I said good-bye to Nanay Editha.  She is so special to me and I will never forget her.  We went to visit her one last time, and I told her that I would be leaving.  She grabbed my hand tight, looked at me, and with tears in her eyes, told me how special I was to her.  It was such a powerful, special, sweet moment.  One that I will never forget.  I will miss her dearly. 

I am so excited to watch General Conference this week!  We are so blessed to be able to hear from our living prophet and apostles, and we here in the PH are so blessed to have the technology to be able to watch a broadcast of it.  We are asleep while General Conference is going on in America, so we watch the sessions one week after.  We are scheduled to watch it just like you would, two sessions on Saturday and two sessions on Sunday.  Priesthood session is early Saturday morning.  There's no broadcast of the women's conference, I'm not sure why.  I downloaded the audio from the General Women's Session to my flash drive and I listened to all of it while I was packing this week.  It was so great!  I loved the message of serving and loving those in need.  I was really touched by the talks that were given.  It is so important for us to reach out in love to all those that are around us in any way we can.  All service is worthwhile, no matter how small.  No effort of love and kindness is ever a waste.  

Because I know you'll wonder....I am emailing you from Roxas, a neighboring city.  For P-Day we have to travel to another city outside of our zone so that we can email and go to the grocery store.  Roxas isn't as big as Cauayan, but it has everything we need.  It's about a 30 minute ride from Burgos to Roxas.

I hope you all have a fantastic, wonderful week filled with joy and love.  I love you all so much and you are always in my prayers.  Thank you for making my week bright with your wonderful emails. 

I LOVE YOU! 

xo Sister Allen

Saying goodbye to Nanay Editha.

Welcome to Burgos!

Me and Sister Aguanta.  I ate a whole coconut! It was delicious.

Our area....the middle of nowhere!

Me, Sister Aguanta, and the family of our branch president at our chapel.

Pretty sunset in Burgos.

Hello hello!  

I am transferred! I found out this morning.  When the text came with the list of people, and I saw "Sister Allen" I started kind of screaming excitedly and jumping up and down because I was happy.  Then a few seconds later I started crying.  Haha.  I guess you could say I have mixed feelings.  I love Cauayan zone and have loved being in my area.  I love each of the sweet people I have taught here and all the friends I have made.  I will miss Cauayan City.  On the other hand, I think I am ready to get to a new area.  I am excited for whatever lies ahead.  I have no idea where I will get transferred.  I will find out on Transfer Day, which is Wednesday.  I am excited and nervous, but also very excited.  Next time I talk to you, I'll be in a new area with a new companion!  Ah!

Happy Easter!  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and had a chance to think about the Savior.  I had a great Easter here in Cauayan.  Our District Conference fell on the same day as Easter this year.  It was great to have our District, which is like the small version of a stake, all together.  We heard from our District Presidency, a few District leaders, and President and Sister Rahlf.  It was a great meeting.  After the meeting, the missionaries in the Cauayan Zone - that's us! - had planned an Easter Musical Fireside.  We shared the story of the Savior through song.  We went through His birth, life, death, and resurrection.  We read scriptures and then sang songs all about the Savior.  We didn't have much time to practice, so I was a bit worried of how it would turn out.  To my pleasant surprise, it was a beautiful fireside.  I felt the Spirit so strong.  I sang with all the sisters one song, a few songs as a zone, and a duet with me and Elder Navarro.  It was just one verse of "I Stand All Amazed."  I thought I was going to die.  I was so nervous.  My heart was pounding so hard I thought I would explode.  But it went alright.  I survived, haha!  Music is one of the strongest ways that I feel the Spirit.  Singing about the Savior, and listening to the other songs, really testified to me just how true our message is:  that our Savior lives and that He loves us.  It was a wonderful experience, one that I will never forget.

I am so happy to be serving in this wonderful place alongside with such wonderful people.  I love the Philippines Cauayan Mission! I am very excited for my new area.  Adventure awaits!  

all my love, 

xo Sister Anna Ray Allen

(a cute drawing by Sister Allen)

Hello Po!

Here in the Philippines, schools out, summer's begun, and it is HOT.  My hair is getting blonder and my skin is getting darker.  It's a different hot than at home in Utah.  It's so humid you can feel the air just sticking to you.  Yesterday, we had a brown out - no power - and went all through church and our studies at the apartment without any fans.  I was so sweaty!  Did you know that the Philippines Cauayan mission is the hottest mission in the Philippines?  

This week was a good week.  It was a bit of a slower week, but we still had a lot of great lessons and talked to a lot of great people.  On Tuesday, we had a "specialized training" at our district meeting.  Instead of the district leader teaching at our meeting, our teachers were President and Sister Rahlf!  It was a great meeting.  They always have such inspiring thoughts.  We talked a lot about becoming consecrated missionaries. A consecrated missionary is made up of four things:  good attitude, work ethic, gospel knowledge, and obedience.  We talked about how we can improve in each of these things and how we can all become more consecrated unto the Lord.  It was a great meeting.  I liked the part about good attitude a lot.  I firmly believe that attitude is everything.  Even though it's so hot, we're sweaty all the time, we have blisters on our feet, sometimes people don't want us to teach them, and all the other things that seem to go wrong, if we choose to have a good attitude about everything, all our troubles won't seem so hard.  All the little wrongs in our life will be drowned out by all of the happy and good things.  All we have to do is let the good in!  Don't focus on the darkness, let the sunshine in!  Life - and everything else - becomes so much better when we have a good attitude. 

Our area is still doing well.  We went to a new part of our area that I had never really gone to before, and we found a couple new investigators there that were so open and willing to hear our message.  It made us so happy.  We have decided to go back there and to find more people to teach this coming week.  I am excited to see what we find there!  

We had a good experience with one of our LA’s this week (less active).  Her name is Edith and she is 52 year’s old.  She was baptized a little over one year ago.  She has such strong faith, and the only reason she’s LA is because she doesn’t have fare to ride a trycie to church.  Their life is hard and money is tight, and they live far far away from the chapel.  About a 100 peso ride round trip.  We encouraged her to continue praying and acting in faith to come to church.  On Sunday morning we got a call from one of our members.  She told us that she would pick up Nanay Edith for church.  We hurried and called Nanay Editha, hoping she wasn’t still asleep.  She answered and we told her to hurry and get ready because she had a ride to church.  Her answer touched my heart.  She said, “Sister’s, I am already ready.  I woke up this morning and got ready for church.  I didn’t know why, but I felt that I will go to church today.”  How amazing is that?!?  She was able to come to church.  Her prayers were answered, through the kindness of a member, and through the Spirit that said to her, “Get up and get ready.  You’re going to church today.”  I was so happy to see her at church.  I was so happy that she had enough faith to follow the Spirit, even if her prompting seemed impossible.  Yay!   

Also....happy Easter!  Easter is celebrated differently here in the Philippines.  It's more like a celebration - or a mourning really - for the death of Jesus Christ.  I am so happy to know and share to these people here that Christ lives!  He lived for us, died for us, and then on the third day, He rose and lived again for us.  And even now, He lives!  I really love the Easter video from the church last year.  I echo it's words:  He lives.  And if you call out, He will be there. All we have to do is seek Him.  Find Him.  I hope each of you take a little time to think about the Resurrection of Christ this Easter.  I hope you each reach out to Him this Easter, and always.  I know He will be there.

Here's a link to the video:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-04-1010-he-lives-celebrate-easter-because-jesus-christ-lives?category=topics/easter&lang=eng

I love you all so much!  I hope you have a great Easter week! 

mahal kita and happy easter    

xo Sister Anna Ray Allen

One of our recent concerts, Melanie.  

She got baptized right before I got here.  

She is so cute and I love her so much.  

Me and my companions. :)

Floating house!  They farm fish next to their house

in the lake for a living. 

Our district in a jeepny.  On our way to Magat Dam.

I thought the colorful boats were so cute.

We got to ride around the lake in one!

It was a little bit tippy, but fun!

A fire station! Not quite like dad's firestation.

At Zone Conference 

Mahal ko kayo!

Sometimes, being here doesn't feel real.  It feels like a dream.  I feel like a Disney princess sometimes (hehe).  I am the only blondish, white American girl for miles around in this little Asian city and I am constantly surrounded by new and interesting things.  I feel kind of like an alien here.  People are always staring and me and (trying) to speak in English to me.  Things like, "hello, madam!" or "what's your name?" and "hello America!" (that's my favorite one haha)  are said to me a lot.  They're always surprised when I answer them in Tagalog.  It's fun especially to talk to the little kids in Tagalog.  When they see me, they always shout, "Amerikana! Amerikana!"  and I look around and say, "saan?!" (That means "where?!")  That makes them - and me - laugh.  I stick out like a sore thumb here.  But, as a missionary, it's sometimes helpful!  People often times approach us, and then we get an opportunity to share the gospel with them.

This week was a good week here in the great Philippines Cauayan Mission.  I really do love it here in the Philippines.  It's such an amazing place.  Here are some facts for you:  The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish for many years.  Because of that, there's a lot of Spanish-Asian mix of culture, language, and even religion.  Because of the Spanish influence here, the Philippines is the only prominently Christian Asian country.  Everyone here has heard of and knows about Jesus Christ, unlike other Asian countries.  That is a blessing for us as missionaries!  People are ready to accept the fulness of the gospel of Christ because they already have pieces of it, and most people have a solid Christian background.  All we have to do it fill in the missing pieces: the Restoration, priesthood, temples, etc. 

The entire Philippines Cauayan Mission is doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge.  We are all reading the Book of Mormon in 60 days!  Ah!  (I think I've told you a little bit about it, but I want to tell you more.)  While we speed read, we do three things:  1) Mark every time the Savior is mentioned - Lord, Jesus Christ, He, Him, the good shepherd etc. 2) Highlight in one color all the words that the Savior speaks, like when it says "thus saith the Lord:..." and 3) Highlight in a different color all of the scriptures that relate to the mission of the Savior - His birth, atonement, baptism, crucifixion, etc.  It's so great to do the reading challenge.  I love it!  I am a little bit behind....but I am trying to catch up.  We are already in Alma!  It's really fun to look for signs of the Savior as I read.  I never realized how much of Him was in the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon truly is another testament of Jesus Christ.  It testifies of Him on every page.  I read recently  (I don't remember where or who said it) that without the Book of Mormon, we would know little about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  As I have been doing the reading challenge, I know that that is true.  There is so much about the Atonement of Jesus Christ within it's pages. 

It has been a pretty good week.  I started this week to write in my planner each day a "personal goal of the day" and a "miracle of the day."  It's been really fun.  There are usually multiple miracles!  It's fun to look back at the week and look at all the great things that have happened.  Making personal goals every day helps me to be more self aware.  It also helps me to focus more during the day on improving one thing at a time.  It's been helpful and eye-opening.  I have never been more aware of my weaknesses than here in the mission.  I know that weaknesses are given to us to help us grow and become strong.  I want to work on humbling myself so that I can learn to overcome my weaknesses.  Making a "personal goal of the day" is helping me do that.

I am doing well.  I am learning more about the gospel every single day and, of course, am learning to speak more Tagalog every day too!  It's really fun to speak in a new language.  I definitely know that the gift of tongues is true.  I feel like the language has just come to me; it's so awesome!  Of course, I study and learn more each day too.  I also help my companions study English.  That's actually pretty fun.  

Our area is doing well.  Nicole is still coming to church and progressing - reading and praying every day.  We have yet to set a baptismal date, but that is our goal this week!  I'll let you know how it goes.  She is so wonderful.  She really has been prepared to hear the glad tidings of the gospel.  Our area is doing okay as well.  I feel like we are kind of it a rut.  We have so many investigators, but none of them come to church, so none of them are progressing.  It's really hard to help investigators come to church.  But, I know they have their agency.  We can only do so much.  That being said, I want to do as much as I can to help them.  In our area, I want to do more lessons and invitations to help people make the decision to come to church.  That, I would say, is our biggest struggle right now. 

Our companionship is doing better.  We are still here, still working hard, and still trying to improve in our work.  Training is really good.  Sister Recano has opened up a lot more with us.  She was very quiet at first and didn't say much.  But now, most of the time she doesn't stop talking!  It's actually been a great change.  She is finally letting her light shine for all to see!  I can see her confidence in missionary work growing day by day.  

I love you all so much!  Thank you for all your prayers and all of your good vibes.  I can feel them every day, lifting me and strengthening me. 

I LOVE YOU!

xo Anna 

At Zone Conference.

Hello!  This week was an okay week.  There were some ups and some downs, but overall, I am doing well.  The work is still moving forward, step by step.  I am learning lots of lessons through little trials, and even though sometimes it's hard, I am learning a lot and becoming stronger in person and in spirit.  I am really enjoying the Book of Mormon power read our mission president challenged us to do.  I love it!  I did my own kind of "power read" of the Book of Mormon when I entered the MTC.  I started it at the end of August and finished it at the beginning of November.  I was excited to read it again, fast!  I love highlighting everything about the Savior as I read.  I never realized how much of Him is in the Book of Mormon!  He's on every page, and practically in every verse.  This power read is strengthening my testimony of the Book of Mormon and of my Savior. 

The Cauayan area is doing well.  We found a lot of new, promising investigators this week!  I am excited to teach them more and extend more baptismal dates this week.  We have also been doing much better at contacting and finding ever since we practiced CASH contacting at zone conference.  That has helped us have a lot of success in finding and contacting.  

We visited our less active this week, Editha.  Her daughter Jennie Lynn had just gotten back from the hospital after giving birth to the cutest baby boy.  His name is Mar.  I remember when Editha first told us that her daughter was pregnant.  She cried and cried and her heart was broken.  Jennie Lynn is a deaf mute - she can't hear or talk.  She is almost thirty years old, but she lives with her parents because she needs someone to take care of her.  Jenny Lynn is kind and innocent, and spends a lot of time walking around their little town.  Most likely, Jennie Lynn was raped, and because she can't talk or hear, they didn't know - and still don't know - who the father his.  Editha was heartbroken that someone would do such an evil and horrible thing to her daughter.  But now, months later, they have a beautiful baby.  I remember comforting Nanay Editha that day and telling her that trials sometimes bring us the most wonderful blessings.  We tried to make this horrible thing into a positive one.  We told Editha that she could raise the baby in the church.  We told her that when Jenny Lynn was old, she would have her son to take care of her.  We told her to be strong, and to trust the Lord, and that everything - even the most horrible things - happen for a reason.  It was so sweet to see the new, perfect baby Mar this week, and also to see the smile on Editha's face.  A trial in her life had become a beautiful blessing.  That was an important reminder to me about trials.  Even when our trials feel like they are tearing us apart, our trials will be for our good.  Through trials, we receive blessings. 

This week, our companionship has been struggling a little.  There was some unkindness going around that really broke my heart and hurt my feelings.  I fasted this past Sunday for our companionship to have charity and unity.  Even though being in a threesome companionship is hard, I know that this trial will make me and my companions stronger. I am also trying to be kinder and serve my companions more to have a more loving companionship.  I hope that we can do better this week and can each try and be more like our Savior.  

I love you all so much!  I pray for you all every day and think of you every minute. I am excited to start this fresh, new week.

xo Sister Allen

Happy birthday to my dad!

One of our less active's daughters had a baby this past week.  He is sooo cute and sooo tiny.  

His name is Mar.

My latest finds from the past few weeks!  Some Filipino hair elastics. A pretty Japanese notebook. A new wallet that says "banana" (forAnnaBanana) :) cause my other wallet broke. And...candy!Chocolate covered almonds. 

A dinner at the Dellona's house.

At the Soloria's house. There was a lot of us!

Nanay told me she hopes I don't get transferred haha.

She is so cute!  I love her and her family.

Hello beautiful people!  

Oh my goodness.  I miss you all so so much.  So so much!

I am doing well.  I am working hard.  I had a good week.  I am no longer sick.  Yay!  I just have a little cough, that’s all.

What a week.  We have been having great weeks here in Cauayan, and this week was another one.  We had more successful goals, more quality lessons, and better unity in our trisome this week.  My companions are doing well.  We finally had a breakthrough with Sister R during companionship inventory.  She opened up to us. Since then, she has seemed a lot happier and has been more open and friendly to us.  She is from the Phil. Tacloban mission and was there when the largest typhoon on record hit.  She saw horrible horrible things, but she is strong.  Her aunt died in the storm, but no one else. On top of that, we have been having much better training sessions and lessons.  It is so so important for companions to be open with each other!  She is a great missionary, and she is improving in her teaching and really applying the things that we study in our training.  It's fun to watch her grow.  Sister T is also doing good.  She is such a happy light and has such a strong testimony. I know more about the gospel than I ever have before and I am closer to my Savior than I ever have been.

Cultural note:  Respect in the Philippines is very important.  You always respect anyone older than you and every stranger that you talk to.  If you add "po" in your sentences to people, it makes it respectful.  To old people, you respect them by grabbing their hand and touching it to your forehead.  I am sure there's a Tagalog way to say it, but I have only heard it called "bless."  I really like how much people respect each other here.  There's more peace and kindness here because of that.  It always makes me smile when little children "bless" me.

Our area is doing all right.  We are continuing teaching and contacting.  A lot of our less actives and some of our investigators have moved away, so I feel an urgency to find more new investigators and find less actives in our area.  We need to find more this week!  We have one really really progressing investigator, Nicole.  She's very cautious and hasn't agreed on a baptismal date yet, but she's close.  She has a lot of faith and desire to become closer to God.  I am excited to see our progress with her in the coming week.  

I had a thought this week, and then thought about it again as I was reading my dad's letter. As missionaries we plan and plan and plan every single day.  We write our plans for the day, appointments, goals, lesson plans, and invitations that we will extend to those we teach.  A lot of our lessons have commitments to come to church, pray, and read the Book of Mormon.  Because it's faster and takes up less space, I usually shorten church, prayer, and reading to “CPR."  When my dad wrote me his letter he said that he was giving physical CPR to a man who was dead.  But my dad breathed life back into him, and the man lived again.  I am giving spiritual CPR to the people here and - I hope and pray - that I am saving some.  I am bringing people back to spiritual life!  The only way they can receive that life is through coming to church, praying, and reading the scriptures.  

I love you all so much!  I hope your week is full of happiness and joy and that you always remember how much I love each of you.  You're always in my heart.

Ingat po kayo! 

xo Sister Anna Allen

Sorry.... I didn't take any pictures this week!

But, I found some quotes that I really really like....