Travel for zone training meeting.

Hello po! 

I have had an excellent week!  It was so busy.  We had two companion exchanges, zone training meeting, and lots of missionary work.  I'll give you the highlights.

My favorite thing that happened this week was this morning.  We were doing our laundry when the transfer list came through text....and Sister Delinila is staying!  I was so happy!  I was jumping around and laughing and freaking out when we read the text.  I wearied God with my prayers to let her stay, and I'm sure I wearied President Hiatt too with my requests to keep us together.  I am so happy that she's staying!  She will "kill me."  That's what you say when a missionary will be your last companion before you go home.  YAY!

The fact that I am so close to going home has begun to sink in a little bit.  Although I am excited to see all of you, the idea makes my stomach clench.  I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to this beautiful place.  Of course, I try to not think about it and I try to really focus on the people and the work.  But one morning this week, I was feeling a little down and a little stressed.  I was wondering if I had really done my best and wondering if my best could measure up to the work that others had done.  I was just having a little weak moment.  In my prayer to open my personal study, I asked Heavenly Father to help me feel okay and to help me know - really know - how He thinks I have been doing.  This is what I read during my studies that morning, and I know it was an answer to my prayer.  It's from a talk by Elder J. Devn Cornish.  He said: 

"We must stop comparing ourselves to others. We torture ourselves needlessly by competing and comparing. We falsely judge our self-worth by the things we do or don’t have and by the opinions of others. If we must compare, let us compare how we were in the past to how we are today—and even to how we want to be in the future. The only opinion of us that matters is what our Heavenly Father thinks of us. Please sincerely ask Him what He thinks of you. He will love and correct but never discourage us..."

It lifted my heart so much when I read that!  Sister Delinila also talked to me and helped me (because she's my companion, of course she could tell I was feeling down).  She shared with me this quote by President Uchtdorf from his talk, "Forget Me Not."

"Forget not to be patient with yourself.  I want to tell you something that I hope you will take in the right way: God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect.  Let me add: God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.  And yet we spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. This drives us to create expectations for ourselves that are impossible to meet. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does.  Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It’s wonderful that you have strengths.  And it is part of your mortal experience that you do have weaknesses.  God wants to help us to eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths, but He knows that this is a long-term goal. He wants us to become perfect, and if we stay on the path of discipleship, one day we will. It’s OK that you’re not quite there yet. Keep working on it, but stop punishing yourself."

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father that comforts me when I need it, and I'm grateful for a companion who knows what I need to hear.  

I love you all so much!  I hope you all have a joyful week.  Forget not to be patient with yourself; forget not that Heavenly Father loves you.  

M A H A L  K O  K A Y O

xo Sister Allen

“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.”  Psalms 31:24

The Burgundy couple (the ones who got baptized a few weeks ago) invited us to their daughter's 4th birthday this past week, so we got her a gift.  It's a stuffed animal backpack.  She loved it!

Candies that we gave out at zone training meeting.  Yummy!

After my first time teaching at a zone training meeting.  I survived!

A mix of Santiago South and Santiago North missionaries.  

This is Tatay and Nanay Dominggo.  They are ward missionaries.  We worked with them this past Thursday, and it was amazing.  Tatay Dominggo reminds me of dad for some reason, I don't know why. Hahaha!

Sab's fourth birthday!  We couldn't get Sab to sit still.

Some kids playing in the ditch.  Like the ditch in our backyard!

Karabao.

Walking in the rain.

Our dinner appointment on Sunday night was at a member's birthday party. Fun!

Doing our laundry this morning! We bought taho from a street vendor that walked by our house.  Taho is this warm soy yogurt kind of stuff with sugar and sago.  It's goooooood. 

We got punted so we pretended t teach this cute little pig.  (We were carrying Preach My Gospel to give to one of our recent converts.)

Hello po! 

I have had a great week!  Busy, of course, but happy.  A mission is so hard, but is so amazing.  It has brought so much joy and direction in my life.  Things that are hard often do.  I was reading in my personal study earlier today and I came across a verse that made me laugh at first in Exodus 1:12.  It says, "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew."  This is talking about the Hebrews in bondage, but it can apply to us as well.  If we pass through things that are hard, we will inevitably get stronger.  The more afflictions and difficulty, the stronger we get.  I feel like that's what's happening to me on my mission.  It's hard, but it's also making me strong.  And even though it's hard, I am so happy!  I am really so joyful all the time.  This week was another happy week.  

Sister Delinila and I are so happy as companions.  I still would love if she could stay here for my last cycle, if possible.  One cycle is not enough! :)  

Our area is doing alright.  We're focusing right now on how we can help our investigators become progressing.  So far, member present and fellowshippers are the best solutions that we thought of.  We coordinated with the ward to set up a better scheduling system with them, so that we know when the members are available.  We also are working so that we can have clear communication with the members throughout the week, instead of communication only on Sundays. 

On Tuesday, we had a good day.  We went to Rizal to visit some sisters.  Rizal is just right next to our area.  It was a fun afternoon.  We attended their district meeting.  It was about true conversion.  The gospel of Jesus Christ - faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end - doesn't just happen in our lives once.  It is a cycle that repeats over and over again.  If we are living the gospel of Jesus Christ - if it has become a part of us - that means that we are converted. Wednesday was a normal day of hard work.  Thursday was MLC!  It was awesome.  We learned a lot about how to be better teachers.  I loved it!  On Friday, we had our splits with Sister Ruyeras and Sister Montandon.  It was fun too.  On Saturday we had our weekly planning and then some work.  Sunday we just went to church and did some work in the afternoon.... I feel like I tell you the same thing every week.  Sorry I'm not being very detailed.

This is my newest favorite video on mormon.org.  It's called "I Am Here."  Watch it!  https://www.mormonchannel.org/blog/post/top-10-videos-of-2016

I'm out of time again.... I love you all so much and I think of you everyday!  I'm finishing strong.

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART. 

xo Sister Allen

 At the chapel in Rizal.

Some of my batch!  This is all of my batch mates that attended the MLC. 

Sister Songcuan and I at MLC.  She's so cute.

This is our "holy pose."  Nanay Rhodora gave us towels as a Christmas gift, and we were being crazy and posing with them. 

Me and my comp on Christmas day!  I love her.

We named her Beatrice.  

Sister Delinila is the best!

I have a lot of pictures of me and Sister Delinila...haha.  This one's at MLC.

HELLO PO! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!  2017 is here!  I am so excited for this year.  I think this is going to be a great year for me.  This is going to be a great year for all of us! 

My companion and I are doing well.  Sister Delinila is a really wonderful companion.  We trust each other and we work together well.  She is a good example to me of hard work and diligence, not only in missionary work, but in life.  Our strengths work well together in perfect balance.  I would really really love it if she and I could stay together for my last cycle.  :)  

This week was a great week.  I have been so busy it almost makes my head spin!  We had companionship exchanges THREE times this past week.  Whew.  

We also had our lockdown on New Years Eve.  New Year's is crazy here!  There's lots of fire works, drinking, gun shots (they're shooting them into the air), and loud noises.  We had to be at the house at 6 pm until the next morning.  We just watched church videos.  My favorite!  Haha.

I'm out of time...sorry!  Sorry, I have no pictures. :(  The computer won't connect with my camera. Boo.  Also, this letter is super short because I took a long time doing my letter to the president.  Sorry!   I LOVE YOU ALL! 

xo Sister Allen

Me and my companion, Sister Delinila.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!  

I love you all so much and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season.  I have had a great Christmas.  It was so fun to celebrate Christmas and talk to my family.  

My absolute favorite story in the scriptures is the story of Christ's birth; the Nativity.  It is rich in doctrine and has beautiful, uplifting stories of amazing people.  It is also a story that every one can relate to.  I love what Neal A. Maxwell said...

"Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus."

I hope each of you have room enough in your life for the Savior of the world.  Let Him in!  Let Him fill your life with joy and beauty.  Let Him in.

I love you all!

xo Sister Allen

Harold and Elizabeth and their cute daughter.  They were baptized on December 17th!

Our Zone Christmas party!

My first time as a STL with splits...I spent the day with Sister Recano!

We were companions before.  She's the best.  I had fun with her!

Our splits companions, Sister Mafi and Sister Recano.  Sister Mafi is tall!

This is Christina, a daughter of one of our investigators.  We are at the ward Christmas party.  She's so cute!

The youth and single adults from the ward put on a show!  They had elves dancing...hahaha.

At the ward Christmas party.

At the Christmas zone conference.  Every missionary received a stocking from some of the missionary moms and dads in the sates.  It was filled with candy, cookies, and all kinds of goodies!

Some of my batch mates.

Some karabao poop....decorated for Christmas!  The little kids always decorate the poop that's on the road (weird, I know).

Christmas Eve!  We watched church videos with our housemates on the night of Christmas Eve to celebrate. 

My pile of gifts!

At Robinson's mall!  It looked festive and pretty.

Me and my anak, Sister Escalante, at the Christmas zone conference.  I love her!

Christmas zone conference.  My zone: Solano, Bambang, Santiago North and South.  

Working with Sister Hiatt.  This is a part member family that we met.  They really have the potential to progress and they were very interested in our message.

Hello po! 

I have had a good week!  Christmas is so close!  Only 6 more days.  I am so excited!  Christmas is the best time of year and it is also my favorite holiday.  Christmas is also a wonderful time to be a missionary.  Although I do miss being home with my family at Christmastime, I also love being here in the Philippines for Christmas.   Someone told me in my emails once that a mission is the only time in my life when I don't have to think about anything I "have to do."  It's the only time in my life when I'll be able to think purely about others.  So, I am trying to do just that!  I am doing my best to lose myself in the work.  I am still working on adjusting to the area.  I'm trying to memorize all the investigators and all of their houses so that I am prepared for upcoming companion exchanges with the other sisters. 

As for me and Sister Delinila, we are doing well.  We work well together as a companionship and we have fun together.  I love working with her.  I am learning a lot from her.  We are working hard to help the other sisters under our care.  About half of our sisters are brand-new to the field, so we're trying to help them adjust by being friendly and loving.  We send out encouraging texts and call at least one companionship daily.  So far, they are doing well.  They have good trainers and they are working hard.  It makes my heart wrench to see the foreign sisters' frustration with the language barrier.  I was there once, and I know what that feels like.  I think it would help the foreign sisters a lot if their trainers would translate for them in lessons, meetings, and at church so that they don't feel so outcast.  We're working to help each sister according to their needs. 

Here's what I did this week:

Last Monday after emails, my companion and I did our usual grocery shopping and errands.  We went to a mall called Robinson's to do our shopping.  The mall is soooo nice.  I felt like I was in America!  We did our groceries and then spent about an hour window shopping.  It was really fun. 

On Tuesday we had our usual district meeting.  I met my new district here in Santiago.  It was a good meeting.  I was super nervous for the whole meeting though, because afterwards, Sister Hiatt would be working with us.  Pres. and Sister Hiatt do these things called, "24 hour exchanges" with the zone leaders and sister training leaders once a cycle.  They draw a name of a set of zone leaders and a set of sister training leaders to work with - President works with the zone leaders, and Sister Hiatt with the sister training leaders. We were the lucky winners!  I wanted to die.  I thought it was going to be the most awkward thing in the world.  To my surprise, it was a really good day.  Sister Hiatt is the best!  I got a lot closer to her over our 24 hour exchange.  She is a hard worker and is up for anything.  We had some really great lessons with her.  She brought a special spirit into our lessons.  She also brought her iPad, which we used to show the #lighttheworld video in our lessons.  It was really fun!  We even cooked with her and planned with her.  Everything we did, she did!  She's awesome.

On Wednesday, we woke up and did exercise with Sister Hiatt.  She's a beast!  (I mean that in a good way of course.)  She was even doing one-armed push ups.  Ah!  We did push ups and squats and ran stairs and did jumping jacks and did ab workouts for what felt like forever.  Sister Hiatt is in much better shape than I am!  After, we did our normal studies with Sister Hiatt.  That afternoon when we went out to work, we were searching for a less active lady we had heard about.  After a while of searching, we finally found her.  We introduced ourselves to her and to her family and were able to teach a beautiful lesson.  They are a middle aged couple with three young kids.  The sister, Sharon Manlangit, hasn't been to church since she was a teen and her husband, Ariel Manlangit, isn't a member.  Brother Ariel was so involved in the lesson and was really interested in our message.  He is so ready for the gospel.  He told us how much he wants the blessings of the gospel for his family, and that he was willing to sacrifice for it.  He even asked us if he should quit his job so that he could come to church!  (We told him to maybe just ask for Sundays off first.)  They are one of the most prepared people that I have ever taught.  I'm so excited to keep teaching them.  They asked us to come back the very next day, which we did.  After that lesson, we said goodbye to Sister Hiatt and had a good afternoon of work.

On Thursday, we had a new leaders training meeting in Cauayan with President and Sister Hiatt.  It was a great meeting, and I learned a lot about how I can be a better leader.  It was also fun to see the other sister training leaders and get to know them better.  It was uplifting and spiritual. 

On Friday, we had a nice day of hard work.  We taught the Manlangit family again and they accepted a baptismal date for February 2017.  We are so excited for them! 

On Saturday, we had a baptism of Iza and Harold Bergundo.  They are so amazing!  Their baptismal service was nice and they both bore wonderful testimonies.  

On Sunday, we had church and some meetings and then went out of course to work work work.  It was good. 

I am so happy to be a missionary at this time of the year!  I hope you all have an amazing Christmas.  

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

xo Sister Allen

We're cooking!  We're burning the skin of the eggplant so that we can peel it off.

Us contacting a guy. 

Eating lunch!  We made fried bangus (or in English, fried milk fish).

Pajama picture with Sister Hiatt!

Eating dinner with Sister Hiatt.

My trainer's trainer and my trainer's trainer's trainer visited us this week!  

They are so cute.  They fed us McDonald's. :)

Saying goodbye to the members in Penablanca.

Hello po! 

I have had a great week!  I have been assigned to SANTIAGO SOUTH ZONE!  This will be my last area.  Santiago City is about an hour away from the mission home in Cauayan City.  Our area here is half city, half farm land, and it is filled with many wonderful people who are ready to hear the gospel.  My trainer, Sister Maroket, and my trainer's trainer, Sister Acosta were also both assigned as STLs in this area.  Haha!  I guess it runs in the family.  My companion is Sister Delinila.  She's the best!  She is from Cebu, which is in the southern part of the PH.  She is 22 years old and graduated college in accounting.  We have a lot in common!  We like all of the same things.  She's very proper and serious about the work.  She's fun to talk to and she's a great companion.  I really like her a lot!  

This week has been a week of growth.  I am doing my best to build myself into the person my Heavenly Father wants me to be.  This week, I have felt at moments inadequacy, fear, and doubt, but all of that was washed away by an overwhelming peaceful assurance from the Spirit that as long as the Savior is by my side, I can do all things.  My companion and I are assigned as sister training leaders.  We lead, teach, and help all of the sisters in the Santiago North, Santiago South, and Alicia zones.  We also are part of the missionary leadership committee with other zone leaders and the assistants to the president.  As STL's, we help direct the work to carry out the plans that our mission president has for our mission.  We go on exchanges with the sisters in our assigned zones, teach the missionaries at zone training meetings, and help the missionaries to become the best missionaries that they can be!  It's a great opportunity for me and my companion to be a good example and guide for the other missionaries.  A lot of the sisters in our assigned zones are training, so there are many new missionaries that we will have to help out with.  I am excited (still a little nervous) about this calling.  It is an opportunity to serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.

Here in Santiago, I also have some housemates again!  I am glad I have housemates.  They are Sister Ruyeras and Sister Montandon.  This is the third time that I have been housemates with Sister Ruyeras, so I know her well!  She's a Filipina from Tacloban, PH.  Sister Montandon is from Las Vegas, NV, and just got to the mission on Wednesday.  She's brand new.  It's fun to watch her and remember the things that I experienced when I was new too.  Our house is pretty nice.  It's a lot nicer now, because I cleaned it really good this morning. :)  The only thing I don't like is my bed, because it's a bunk bed and I'm on top.  I don't like climbing up and down, but it's okay.  It's comfy, and I sleep good. 

This week was a great week.  We taught just over 30 lessons this week.  We have been busy!  It's a good kind of busy; the kind that makes my day happy and makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile.  Time flies when you're busy!  Each day has seemed so short for this whole week.  Christmas is so close!  Christmas really is the best time to be a missionary.  It's fun to teach about Christ at this time of the year.  Everyone is much happier, much more giving, and much kinder at this time of year.  Even though I have only been in Santiago for a few days, I have met many amazing people. 

Two of those people are Harold and Iza.  They are a young couple with a cute four-year-old daughter.  They are getting baptized this weekend!  I didn't do much of the missionary work to help them get to the baptism (because I just got here!), but I am honored to know them and to be able to witness their baptism this week.  They are amazing.  They are so ready for the gospel.  Sister Iza is SO excited for her baptism.  She kept asking us if she could get baptized sooner than Saturday.  She's cute!  They are a great little family, and they will thrive as members of the church.

Another amazing person I met is Nanay Rhodora.  She is an older woman, and was baptized a few months ago.  She's also blind, but she wasn't always that way.  She told us she went blind because of her diabetes.  She is so sweet as has such a strong testimony.  When I met her, she smiled and held her arms open and said, "Come here Allen!  I will kiss you!"  Which she did.  She kissed me on the cheek and gave me a tight hug.  Then she asked me all about myself, including what color hair I have and what color eyes.  She just calls me "Allen" and calls all the other sisters by their last names too.  "I call you 'Allen,'" she told me, "because I know you are my daughter, not just a sister."  She's so cute.  When we visit her, we read the Book of Mormon to her.  She always hugs and kisses us and feeds us hot chocolate. 

I am excited to explore this area more and to meet more amazing people.  I am so excited to be here in Santiago! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Keep sharing the light!  I love you all so much.

xo Sister Allen

Saying goodbye!

Saying goodbye to my companion. 

Saying goodbye to housemates, my companion and Bishop Tumaliuan.

My new house!

Some scripture verses I drew and gave out for #LIGHTtheWORLD

My desk with all the new cute new decorations you sent! :) thank you!