Magandang hapon po! 

This week has been a great week.  It's also been a hard week.  But, sometimes the really hard weeks are the best weeks, because those are the weeks when I learn and grow the most.  I didn't realize how hard training would be!  The trainer has to lead everything - lessons, tracting, contacting, planning - and the trainee kind of just follows along like a puppy.  In a usual companionship, the load of the work should be shared 50/50.  But in training, the weight is mostly, if not all, on the trainer.  100 for me!  That's a heavy load for me, but it is helping me grow and learn a lot.  I am giving my best and showing my best example to my anak, even though it drains me.  But that's how it should be:  I should always be giving everything I have, every day.  If I'm not doing that, I'm not working hard enough.  I'm not doing my job if, at the end of the day, I'm not out of my mind tired.  Training has really helped me grow in patience.  I am praying every day for the strength and kindness to be able to serve well as a trainer, and for my anak to learn everything she needs to during this time as we are training together.  Training is hard, but it's also so wonderful.  I am excited to keep training and learning more and more from this calling. 

We have had some major push backs in our work with Carmelita and Herminihildo.  Nanay Carmelita and Tatay Herminihildo's baptismal date has been pushed back to the middle of June.  Tatay Herminihildo hasn't been able to shake his addiction to cigarettes just yet - and living the Word of Wisdom is a requirement for baptism.  Nanay Carmelita is so ready for baptism, but doesn't want to get baptized without Tatay.  Also, she wasn't able to come to church because she was really sick.  (She got an infection in her gums and her face swelled up all huge. Ah!)  It seems like every time a baptism is close, or an investigator is making real progress, something comes up and disrupts their conversion process.  I like to call these "push backs."  They get sick.  They move.  They lose their job.  They can't stop smoking.  They go back to their old religion.  Push backs have happened a lot to me on my mission.   I feel like my investigators and I are tripping a foot before the finish line.  We are so close to baptism, and then we trip.  Push backs are extremely discouraging, but I've learned to handle it and to always keep an eternal perspective on the situation.  I've also learned that everything happens for a reason.  For every push back that I have seen, I have seen two pushes forward.  The positive definitely weighs out the negative.  We are still working with and praying for Carmelita and Herminihildo.  I know that they will be baptized, and that it will be in the Lord's time, not ours.  Push backs are an important part of life.  They teach you how to stay positive and they teach you how to be strong.  I am honestly grateful for all the push backs that I have seen in my life and in my mission, because they have helped me learn and grow so much. 

It is now officially rainy season here in Burgos.  It usually rains every evening and night, which I love!  I sleep wonderfully because the temperature cools down quite a bit once the rain starts.  The temperature during the day is still hot and humid of course.  On Saturday afternoon, we were teaching one of our investigators and it started to pour rain....and I mean, POURING RAIN.  I didn't know so much water could fall so fast!  The streets instantly started to flood.  It was hard to speak and hear because the rain was so loud on the metal roof.  We finished the lesson, and decided to wait for the storm to calm down a little bit before going out.  We sat outside on the porch, under the metal covering and watched the storm.  The thunder and lightning were deafening and the rain was coming down hard.  In my head I was thinking, "Oh no!  How are we going to have lessons? How are we going to walk from house to house through the flood and the mud?"  As I was thinking and worrying, a herd of little boys came running by.  They stripped off their clothes, and ran out into the rain, screaming and laughing.  They started swimming - literally swimming - in the streets and playing games in the water.  They got buckets and showered themselves with the rain.  It was so funny and so fun to watch.  Their happiness was contagious!  Even though there was a big storm, those little kids made the best out of a bad situation.  After seeing them, happy and having fun despite the storm, it made me wonder, do I make the best of bad situations when they come?  Do I remember to smile and laugh, even when life is stormy?  I hope that we all do that.  Remembering to make the best out of our situations - especially bad situations - will turn us into happy people.  And if we are happy people, our lives will become happy lives.  I will never forget those  little boys, swimming and smiling in the storm.  I hope I - and each of us - can be like them and always remember to be happy and joyful, despite the storms of life.  After they got their clothes back on, I managed to get a picture of them playing in the flood.  I couldn't get them to sit still long enough for a good picture, but the picture's still cute. 

Something gross that happened:  Something - most likely a mouse - died inside the ceiling vent/fan thing in our bathroom.  It smells really really bad, and while I was happily taking a bucket shower one day, maggots started falling from the ceiling.  I screamed and quickly grabbed my towel and ran out of the bathroom as fast as I could.  It was so gross!  It makes me want to barf every time I shower or use the toilet.  We don't know what to do about it.  

I love this work so much and I am so happy to be a missionary.  This work is hard, but it's also the best thing that I have ever done.  Thank you for always supporting me and lifting me up with your words and your prayers.  I love you all so much and I am praying for you, always. 

MAHAL KO KAYO! 

xo Sister Allen

-The computer is being weird with the pictures and won't send them.  Next week.  sorry sorry sorry!

Hello po!  

This week was a wonderful week.  It's been a week of growth and a week of learning.  

This past Wednesday was transfer day, and all the missionaries got shuffled around.  I am still in my same area, Burgos, but I received a brand new companion, fresh out of the MTC!  My companion is brand new here in the field; she's been here for five days!  Her name is Sister Escalante.  I have been called as her trainer here in the Philippines Cauayan mission.  Trainers show the ropes to the brand new missionaries and help them become amazing missionaries. Becoming a trainer has really brought out the best parts of me.  Even though I've only been a trainer for a few days, I have already learned a lot and I am experiencing changes in myself.  I am more exactly obedient, more diligent, and more in tune with the Spirit, because I want to be a good example for my companion.  So far, training has been good.  It's amazing to think that I was in my companion's shoes just a few months ago.  I didn't realize how much I had learned here until I started to teach it all to someone else.  I am excited to continue training and continue to grow through this responsibility. We do training every day for an hour - kind of like a lesson - along with our other studies.  The real training comes from the example of the trainer and from just getting out and working every day.  It has been great so far being her trainer.  I feel like I am learning just as much as she is, if not more.  I am working harder and better, because I want my companion to learn to do that.  It's been wonderful so far!  

Let me tell you about my companion:  Her name is Sister Escalante.  She is from Western Samar, under Philippines Tacloban mission.  Her language is Warri-warri, but she knows Tagalog very well.  She is a survivor of Hurricane Yolanda, the hurricane that hit the Philippines a few years ago and killed thousands.  She was baptized four years ago, and is now here with me, serving in the Great PCM!  She is 19 years old.  She is the second of four children.  Her and her oldest sister are the only members of the church in their family. Her sister and her left on their missions at the same time, one here to Cauayan mission, and the other to Davao mission.  She is very kind and very humble and is going to be one of the best missionaries here once she gets things figured out.  

In three days....I will be HALFWAY through my mission!  I can't believe it.  Time really is flying fast!  I feel like I just stepped off the plane.  These nine months have been amazing and I have learned so much, about the gospel, about the world, and about myself.  Missions really are amazing!  

Our area is doing well.  Our work was kind of slow this week, but we are still seeing great progress with those that we teach.  We had two less active members return this week, which was great!  We are also very close to the baptisms of two of our investigators, Carmelita and Herminihildo.  We are so blessed to have watched them experience such big changes in their lives, and now be working towards the change that comes from baptism.   We are so excited for them.

I really love this area.  As we were visiting one of our brand new investigators, Sister Kayleen, for the second time, she said to us, "Sister, I am coming to church today!  My friend told me that after I go to church I can get baptized.  I hope I can get baptized this month, because I really want to."  We were almost speechless!  She is so prepared for the gospel.  We told her that, yes, she can absolutely get baptized!  We set a baptismal date for her for the beginning of June.  I am always so happily surprised when we find people who are prepared for the gospel.  There are so many people here who are prepared by the Lord.  It's so reassuring and exciting when you find someone like that to teach.  Every thing just clicks.  I am excited to keep teaching and finding in this area.

This week, I have been studying and thinking a lot about prayer.  Our zone leaders this week taught a lesson during a meeting about prayer.  They told us that we should do more than just "say" our prayers, they should be meaningful.  We should think of our prayers as a two-way communication with our Heavenly Father.  I have had so many amazing experiences with prayer in my life, too many to tell.  We are so blessed to be able to talk personally, whenever we want, about whatever we want, with our Heavenly Father.  Teaching someone to pray is one of my favorite things to teach here in the mission.  It's amazing to watch and hear someone pray for the first time.  It's so sincere and so simple.  Sometimes, especially here in the mission, I think, "I wish I had someone to talk to, " or "I wish I could talk to my mom."  When that happens, I just pray.  I talk to my Heavenly Father.  I know that He hears our prayers, and that He cares about everything we pray about, however trivial or seemingly small.  I hope you all do more than just "say" your prayers.  I hope you each talk to your Heavenly Father every day.  I know He wants to hear from each of us and that He will always answer our prayers. 

I hope you all have a wonderful, beautiful week! I love you and miss you all so much! 

I LOVE YOU!  

xo Sister Allen

My companion is the one of the far right.  Her name is Sister Escalante! She's cute.

(No, that's not a fanny pack, it's my new bag.  My "ugly missionary bag."  It's a shoulder bag with a strap around the waist. Eh. I like it.  Hehehehe.)

There were a lot of weddings in April, this is one of them.

May 8, 2016

Happy Mother's Day!!

I was so happy to skype you all today!  It was so fun to talk to you and to see your beautiful faces. I love you all so much!  Yay for technology!  I can't believe I'm almost halfway too.... has it gone by as fast for you as it has for me?  I can't believe how fast time has flown.  

Have a wonderful week!  You are in my heart and in my prayers, always.

I love you to the moon and the stars and back again.  

xo Sister Allen

Mother's Day picture with all the mama's in our branch.

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. 

Hello po!  Magandang hapon po! 

What a great week here in Burgos! It was busy busy busy.  On Monday, of course, we had P day.  I was feeling really under the weather (haha kind of literally with the heat and all) so after emails and shopping, I just slept for the rest of P-day until we went out and worked in the evening.  The heat was really getting to me, and I think I am sensitive to the water here so I was having kind of a hard time this week with that.  I decided to do what you suggested, and what Elder Bednar talked about in his talk you sent me ( In the Strength of the Lord )I prayed - not to change my circumstances - but to help me adapt to the circumstance I am in.  I prayed to Heavenly Father to help my body change and adjust so that I could handle the heat, to help my body adapt to the water so that I wouldn't feel sick and dehydrated, and to help my body adapt to the circumstances that I am in.  I prayed for days, over and over again for this.  And my prayer was answered!  I have been feeling much better, I haven't been feeling sick or dehydrated, and I have been handling the heat much better. Heavenly Father really answers prayers.

On Tuesday, we had Zone Conference!  I like to think of it as Spiritual Feasting Day.  It was a wonderful day of learning, fun, and feeling the Spirit.  We traveled by jeepny to Ilagan for the conference, which is about one hour away from Burgos.  It was so great to see President and Sister Rahlf!  This was their last Zone Conference with us.  They will be returning home in June, and President and Sister Hiatt will be taking their place.  It is sad to think that that was the last Zone Conference we will have with President and Sister Rahlf.  But, I am also really excited to meet the new mission president in a few weeks.

We just finished our Book of Mormon Reading challenge - where we read the Book of Mormon in 60 days - so the conference was all about this wonderful book.  During our power read, we focused on marking and finding names, teachings, words, and doctrines about Christ.  It really helped me realize that the Book of Mormon truly is "Another Testament of Jesus Christ."  Before, I never really understood how much of the Savior really is within it's pages.  But if you read carefully, it's easy to find Him there.  He's everywhere in the Book of Mormon!  It was amazing to feel the Spirit testify to me again of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon as we studied and talked about the BOM at the conference.  In our area, we made a goal to teach more about the Book of Mormon to our investigators, recent converts, less actives, and members.  The Book of Mormon is a great source of strength, and we know it will strengthen our area. 

Zone Conference is also fun because you get to see a lot of the other missionaries.  I was so happy to see some of the people that I have grown to love so much!  I'll send you some pictures of them.  :)  

On Wednesday,  we had companion exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders.  So we traveled back to Ilagan again (two days in a row! haha).  It was so great!  They taught us some great teaching skills.  It's always so fun to work with seasoned, confident missionaries like the sister training leaders.  They always teach me so much by their good example and by their love for this work.  My companion was Sister Mariano, who was my house mate in Cauayan.  We are already such good friends and it was so fun to be her companion.  I love her so much!  She really helped me feel like I am doing good as a missionary.  She always tells me, "Sister Allen, you are the happiest missionary I have ever met!" I've lost count of how many times she's told me that.  It always makes me happier when she says that.  But it's true - I am so happy all the time here!   Sister Mariano is so kind and sweet and I wished she lived in America so that we could hang out after the mission.  

For the rest of the week, we were back to our area, teaching and working like crazy!  I really love the area and all of the people inside of it.  We are continuing to press forward, despite setbacks and Satan's "pushbacks."  This work is really rewarding and I love it so much.  Our investigators are still working towards their baptismal dates and we are continuing to help them be prepared.  It's exhausting work, but I love it! We are trying to teach more about the Book of Mormon to all those that we teach, because we know it will help them so much, especially in gaining a testimony.  We have been teaching that to our members as well, and I think it will help strengthen our little branch.  Great things are happening here in our branch as well.  The leaders gave great talks on Sunday about keeping the Sabbath day holy, and we saw changes and improvements immediately after their talks.  More people stayed for the rest of church classes, and we had a great Sunday service.  We are working towards strengthening our members so that they can help us with the many many less actives here.  

I love you all so much!  I hope you always remember to read and pray every day and that you always remember that I am praying for you always.  I hope you have a wonderful week!  Work hard, pray hard, play hard. 

I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!  

xo Sister Allen

P.S. I can't wait for Mother's Day!  :)

Our house!

Our desk area.

Our kitchen.

Our bedroom.

Our laundry area.  The little white box thing is our washing machine.

Our daily transportation!  It's called a "kulong-kulong" which in English is "cage-cage".  Usually it's used for animals, haha.  That's my comp Sister Aguanta, and our crazy but wonderful Branch Mission Leader, Brother Roland.

Zone Conference! Burgos, llagan, Tuguegarao North and Tuguegarao South Zones.

Burgos Zone.

Me, Sister Mariano, and Sister Kibaimoa.

Rejuvenated and ready to head back to our areas.

Magandang hapon po! 

This week has been a good week.  It's been so hot, but we are still working hard here in Burgos.  I am loving it here.  I am excited to continue working and teaching the wonderful people here. I'm trying to learn more Ilocano so that I can better communicate with the people here.  Overall, I am doing wonderfully.

My companionship is doing well.  We are getting better at teaching in unity and we are striving to improve in contacting as we tract.  We are trying to tract more in some parts of our areas that we haven't gone to as much.  We've found less actives and some new investigators, which has been good.  We really want to achieve the standards of excellence.  That is something we are trying to work on. 

Tomorrow is my......eight month mark!  Whoohoo!  Time really flies when you're having fun.  I can't believe my half way mark is so close.  I have been a missionary for eight months, and within those eight months I have learned and changed so much.  

I have grown so much since I first entered the MTC.  When I was at the MTC, about halfway through my six weeks there, I started feeling inadequate.  I felt like I wasn't missionary material.  I felt like I wasn't the "missionary type" and that I wasn't "churchy" enough or good enough to be a missionary.  I doubted my decision and wondered, "do I really need to do this?" and "is this really right for me?"  As I was stressing and overthinking, we watched a talk by Elder Holland that kind of woke me up.  He said that all we have to do is give ourselves - our will, our time, our heart, our mind, our strength - to the Lord, and He will make us worthy instruments.  He will change us into a missionary.  All we have to do is say, "Here am I, send me."  When we do what He wants and don't hold back, that is when we are successful.  I crept to the bathroom after the talk and knelt on the tile floor in humble prayer.  I remember thanking Him, apologizing for not giving myself to Him, and I told Him that now, I was willing to start.  I was willing to give myself to Him.  I walked out of the bathroom, trying to hide my tears and the tile prints on my knees and legs.  Just then, my district leader asked me if I would like a priesthood blessing.  I was so relieved - that was exactly what I wanted.  The elder gave me a beautiful blessing of comfort, one of the greatest blessings I have ever received.  I remember him saying, "you're Heavenly Father wants you to know that He as always been by your side, before, now, and always."  I felt so relieved and I felt such peace.  When Heavenly Father is by your side, how can you have fear and doubt?  You just can't!  From then on, I felt like a missionary.  I felt ready!  Even though discouragements still come, I know that as I give myself to the work and to my Heavenly Father, it will all work out. 

Right now is wedding season in Burgos!  Weddings are similar to weddings in America.  There's a ceremony, reception, white dress, etc.  But here there's an addition....music!  I don't just mean normal wedding music, but super loud, Tagalog, Ilocano, music that plays for 24 hours straight!  All day, all night.  There have been three wedding so far, close to our house.  I like weddings, but I am NOT a fan of the music haha.  I couldn't sleep, I couldn't focus on my studies, I could barely think!  Next week there are more wedding next week.  I am going to invest in some ear plugs this P day. Hahaha. 

It is also so so so hot here right now (it was 98 degrees, but with the humidity if feels like 108).  I was feeling cooler than normal the other morning so I checked my thermometer.  It read 91 degrees!  That's the "cooler" temp here I guess.  A scary thing happened today earlier too because of the heat.  I was feeling sick to my stomach and was just feeling weird.   I realized that I wasn't sweating, even though my companion was.  I was dizzy, my head was pounding, and my skin felt hot and tight.  I was so dehydrated!  I think I had a little bit of heat exhaustion.  I felt like I was going to pass out in the heat.  But don't worry, I drank a lot of water and Gatorade and am feeling better now.   Usually I drink about 3 liters every day.

We have had a good week of teaching, even though we didn't meet some of the goals that we wanted.  It seems that right when an investigator is progressing, coming to church, and preparing for baptism, the problems and distractions come and get in the way!  They move, or they're busy, or they change their mind.  But it's all right.  We are continuing to look up!  There's so much good for us to do here, and we are planting some promising seeds. Our investigators we do have are doing well.  We are continuing teaching and helping them come unto Christ.  Right now, we are planting.  I don't know for sure, but I think I might be the "planting" type of missionary, as opposed to the "harvesting" kind.  But that's okay with me.  I love planting!  There can't be a harvest after all if there's no one to plant.  Of course, I am always looking for opportunities to harvest and I have faith that I am making a difference here.  I am the happiest planter there ever was! 

I love you all so much!  Thank you for your prayers and all of your support.  You are always in my prayers.  

MAHAL KO KAYONG LAHAT! 

xo Sister Allen

*Sorry, the computer I’m using won’t read my camera or SD card. So no pictures. :( Sorry!!!!!!!!

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.