Conference time!

Well we started the week off with a District meeting in Bellville on monday followed by a game of ultimate, and Sister Brandley showed no mercy, she is really good! Then we all split to prepare for our week and Elder McDonald and I hit up some farms to do our grocery shopping! Got some really good veggies, 10lbs of apples for only $8 too! then we also got some fresh beef roast that we took home and cut into steaks! Only the best hormone free beef! WE had a great family home evening that night at the Vieau's house too! There with Brenda and Eric and the whole group. We taught a lesson on the atonement! I had to do thirteen pushups for a person to get a s'more for the bonfire we had! Then people started to say no and i still had to do the push ups, It hurt to see people say no! I am not sure what the other people learned but as I did the push ups for the 11 people i learned a little bit more about how Christ felt! I mean I am not a person with upper body strength! And as I pushed to make it possible for these people to get one I felt hurt as these people said no. Just as the Saviour feels as we say no and continue in the way of sin! We also made some home made pass along cards for general conference! and that was the whole focus of the week was to get people to come and listen to the prophets voice! The district got 432 invites out in total! But yeah we have been fighting through colds as the cold weather has started to set in! But we are doing good as we press forward and yeah we are doing great! This week we are going to try our best to get more people in our teaching pool and cant wait to report next week the miracles that will happen. And tell then may God bless you! And hope y'all enjoyed conference this weekend! I know the three questions I prepared for conference were answered.

Elder Allen

"Dont stop keep going"

Well this week was super busy on Tuesday we went to Kingston to make Zone shirts! Then after we went on exchanges with Nappanee! It was a back to back exchange, which was pretty fun. Elder Richards and I worked here on Wednesday, and we were able to do some country style missionary work, doing service on the farm. He is dead scared of horses, which was funny, because we were pouring concrete in the barn yard where the horses are, yet they didn't stay around too long. So we poured the concrete for the horses to walk on instead of their waste. Then we ran out of concrete so we had a chance to talk to his brother who isn't a member and also feed some horses, which was fun to watch Elder Richards feed apples to! But anyways by the end of the service he was out in a horse pen, playing with the colt and laughing so hard. It was good to see him lighten up and smile, He is making himself struggle poor guy! But then we were able to teach some good lessons and I also got to really understand him better! Then the next day was District meeting, which was way fun. We did a real play of teaching people with the Book of Mormon. Half of us were given a note card with a person on it and their life story and what they needed to hear from the Book of Mormon! So as the missionary we had to ask inspired questions to find out a little about them and then had to apply the Book of Mormon to them! It was hard, but fun! Then after evaluation we put it into practice and went into the field for 45 min contacting with a Book of Mormon in hand! I believe there were 3 copies given out during this period. then after the District meeting I had a chance to go to napannee and serve with Elder Cameron! Elder Cameron is a "consecrated missionary" but still has some struggles as everyone of us do tell the day we go home then we have a whole new can of struggles. We had a chance to walk the streets of Avril Lavigne , contacting downtown led us to meet some pretty strange people but Elder Cameron made it fun! The we met with their baptisimal date Rudi who was so fun! He is an older guy who is just getting his life in order and searching for answers in is extra large print Book of Mormon! Then we met with a struggling recent convert who was funny as can be! If only the mosquitoes were not present for our lesson! She is struggling with her husband who doesn't seem to support her too much for joining the church! Then on Friday I was back in my area where we had a great weekly planning and then off again to appointments and service! Then came Sunday, we had Brenda come for her second week in a row and she is getting really excited for her baptism this weekend! Her interview is going to be on Wednesday night! But yeah so it was a crazy busy week with a wonderful finish its so great to see people excited to be baptized and progressing so well to it, also the branch getting excited for one as well! But yeah that is my week in a nut shell! Life is going great I am hoping to finish off out here, I love being out of the city! Less souls I am in charge of the less stressful it is! Haha! Well i love y'all so much and make it a great week!
Love,
Elder Derek Allen

I am a Child of God

So this weekend was fast and testimony meeting and well there was a Sister and her husband visiting this weekend and well I wanted to share something she share in her testimony. She told a story of her son and how he was a wonderful father already teaching his children who are not even eight about gospel subject. So the story went like this. This young tall father just finished buckling in his young son, in his car seat, shut the door and went around to the driver seat.

After he buckled his seatbelt, he turned around to his smiley little boy and asked, "why sir where to?" The young little boy in his white shirt and tie replies "to church" his father/ the "chauffeur" then asked which one and the boy says in a proud voice, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of course." the smiling father replies"and why that church my boy." The boy replies, "It teaches me how to pray!" The teaching cap comes on to the father and he asks, "Are your prayers answered?" the little boy pauses and thinks, and replies sadly "no." The father then asked the boy, "And what is it you are praying for?" The little boy looks his daddy in the eye and says, "A baby sister, with me and you its hard on mommy and she needs a baby girl to help her." Needless to say that family just recently adopted a little girl into the family!
As I sat there thinking about his story I started to think of my wonderful older brothers and their new families and then I started to think of myself and how in 5 years I could have a family too. How important it is to teach our children about not just things they experience but also the gospel. the words of the family proclamation to the world come to mind in which it talks about who we are as children of God and the role we have as parents to raise God's children. This led me to my example of my parents. I was privileged to be born to the best parents in the world who have been there for me even in my bratty teenage years. Who I have seen cry over their children's mistakes and hardships. I have also seen tears in my parents eyes as they welcome sons home from being away for 2 years. Then I see the happiness my parents have as the family has grown with wonderful additions hand picked by their boys, and then giddy parents as they become wonderful grandparents! As I think of these I think of a Father in Heaven, who sees even the things others people do, who feels our suffering pains. because of the love my parents had for us, I can see my Father in Heavens love for us. I can picture him crying as he sees us slipping and trying to help us, even though we don't want to listen. Because of my parents love and example of parental love, I know that when my time comes I will have a Father in Heaven who will be there waiting at the end to hug me and welcome me home, probably wanting to spoil the day lights out of me just as I have seen my parents do to my siblings as they come home from being a away for a long time. How great a blessing it is to have such wonderful parents, not just here on Earth but also in heaven. Who are trying to teach us and guide us to true and eternal happiness, not the temporal happiness Satan tries to give us that leads to guilt and shame and even more sins. I am glad for my parents and their love and teachings and hope someday I can be a great example to my kids as they were to me. I know that I am a child of God, and as such I have a Father in Heaven who loves me so dearly. I know that his son, my brother and Savior Jesus Christ came and Died for me on the cross, so I can return to live with my Father again, I know that Our Father in heaven has restored the Church of Jesus Christ in these Latter Days for us, so we can learn of truth and to help lead us back to our Father in heaven through Jesus Christ and his ordinances. I know that the church was restored through is prophet Joseph Smith, and I know that because I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that anyone can know this is true through prayer, that it is essential to prayer to come closer to our Father in Heaven. So if you are reading this and have a desire to improve you life and increase your relationship with our Father in Heaven, then please don't wait, start now. Pray, read his scriptures, he will answer you. He is there and He does love you!



Elder Allen

Surprise! A change of plans!

Well the week was a little bit of a surprise! So Elder kwok and I were off to work after doing a great companionship inventory setting goals together when we get a call from Elder Garcia, with transfers!!! So its after I emailed home to say I was staying and got my groceries all bought for the week. I have to admit I was a little mad, but then I just didn't care! So Elder Kwok and I both left La Salle, Elder Kwok went to Lindsay and I am now in Trent Hills, which is like a random place in the middle of nowhere, just full (to an extent) of kind hearted people! I love the little towns! Then the next day as I was packing comes the extra surprise of I was leaving in a few hours! I had to be in Brampton that night! A rush to get the area book updated (note to self get better at keeping records), pack my stuff, and help Elder Kwok get his stuff packed up! Poor Elder Kwok I just threw his stuff in the suitcase, I hope he was able to find it all. Then off to Brampton then off to the unseen of the new part of my mission Zones 7-11! drove pass Toronto to a town called Oshawa! There we piled out of the truck and loaded other peoples stuff on. Then after all left I was told I had a few more hours to wait, so I went with the Elders there to an appointment! The lesson was horrible, not going to lie, we were helping this recent convert prep for a wedding she is going to, and well she is scared she is going to slip and drink there with her family, who are not members. So that was the object which I didn't know but found out as questions came. Then after the appointment I went back to Toronto to drop off one of the Elders! The Toronto Stake Center is huge, it has 3 floors and a parking garage in the basement! then went from there back to Oshawa where I met up with another missionary and drove us to a little town called Trinton to meet our new companions. There I met Elder McDonald for the first time! and well we had a 40 min car ride North to get to know each other! he is from Idaho Falls, and comes from a normal size family and loves potatoes! Haha, but he really does! He is also doing an amazing job at loosing weight! He has lost the same amount i have gain on my mission (30lbs), we just make a great team! ;) there was work to be done in the Field and in the apartment, so we talked and got on the same page and then off to branch council. then we got home and after planning we did some cleaning, It broke my heart to see a brand new Malibu with trash everywhere and dirt caked on it! (needless to say a 2011 Malibu should not be in the middle of nowhere, so we are trading it in for a Vibe on Friday, I got connections in the office. Surprise, surprise) And we had the worst bathroom and apartment everywhere. Garbage cost money to dispose of, so it looks like the former missionaries liked to just pile it on, and poor Elder McDonald has been trying to get rid of it. Plus the bathroom had gunk all in it and it was clogged so our water took all day to drain! However it now looks brand new and thanks to draino it drains!!!! :) So we have a clean apartment now! Anyways, back to the important stuff. Thursday we had a wonderful District Meeting, done by Elder Henderson, standing at 5 foot 5 in real life but by his spirit one would have to say he is a giant, plus he is way fun and personable! After that we did some great weekly planning and set some wonderful goals for our area and I hope we can push to get them this week! we have got to minimize our driving time though, its way too easy to waste them in such a large area! Then after dinner we dropped by a recent converts house who was recovering from a surgery, but is now doing great and she had such a strong spirit about her, she is a former Jehovah Witness. Friday we had B-fast with the Holts, the Elders Quorum presidents house. Then we had some good contacting on the streets plus some service for a member, plus a ton of other member appointments. Not wasting time on getting to know them and helping them. I also met another recent convert whom said i was pushy in the way she needed me to be! :( I didn't think I was being pushy! We were trying to see what her concern was in praying! Saturday we tracted a whole lot and found someone who was way fun and was super excited to get a Book of Mormon. She however wanted a few weeks to read, and form questions so she can be prepared to meet with us. Church was great on Sunday, we had about 70 people at church! (but 2 out of 3 were members elsewhere just visiting for a wedding being held there!) Then after church we had some more time to find. It is going pretty good here, I am already feeling my purpose here and I am working on finding people to teach, its amazing! Hope all is well with you I love you and talk to you later,

Elder Allen

A Few fun pictures

Step by Step

So this week, was very interesting, mostly it was me evaluating myself and trying really hard to be open with Elder Kwok. And it has been working I have been more open and i think he is trying to be more open with me, as we start this six week transfer I hope that this horrible illness will creep away, this weekend it was pretty rough, but I also think its just scratch trying to get me to give up, and to be honest there were many times i wanted to do just that, but as step by step I was able to get over it. i have spent a lot of time fasting this week trying to get every part of my body set out and knowing where Elder Allen is. Interviews and Instructions from mission leaders helped this week a ton on helping me evaluate my missionary work. I also realized how we need to work on being a unified companionship, sometimes this comes easy but other times not so much! We had great lessons with the karen families, but sadly as Tun Mynts family starts doing so good, some neighbor of theirs calls CAS on them, and well they came in and almost took his kids away, but left it on warning, and if they hear about it again they will, so he has his kids on lock down and well its getting in the way of lessons and coming to church! So that is one reason I fasted this week to know what the Lord wants me to do, and then we met with William this earlier this week and well it did not end well at all, he blew up because he found out we were "Mormons" and he hated Mormons (or so he said) but we were available to set up another appointment to meet with him on Saturday! and well we fasted for him on Saturday to know just how to deal with that, because if anyone knew it was God! And well it was a very powerful lesson, William opened up and we were able to resolve many concerns and he committed to read the Book of Mormon and even to come to church and he is preparing now to be baptized on Aug21! a true miracle, prob one of the biggest miracles on my mission! Now our other investigator Jeff who is doing great he actually help us move a member this week! he was not able to make it to church sadly. As he helped a friend in a major crisis Saturday night and was with him tell 5 am and so he slept pass his alarm the next morning, and he text us saying how bad he felt. he is a way good guy, and the lessons with him are going great and he is fellow shipping already. its going good! sadly because he was unable to come to church we will have to push his date back a week! :( but hopefully he will be OK with that after we break the news to him.Something we have realized this week also is how poor, our relationship with the members is getting as they don't have us over any more because they cant feed us! So we are now thinking of how to better that, because it is so hard to work together when we are heading in the same direction but never crossing paths. But as we take it step by step I know we will accomplish what the Lord has planned for us to do here! I love serving with Elder Kwok, he is a great companion, a complete opposite of what I am, but i think because of that we are growing a whole lot! Well hope you have a great week.
love,
Elder Allen

The miracles following the trials of faith

Ok so this week we only had 10 hours of finding, but in that we have found 3 people who are wonderful. One is a family and we only had a chance to meet with half of them and hope to meet the the whole family this week! The other is a great guy who is a single father. His kids are away for the month, and well as his kids went away to grandma's house for the month, he decided he was going to find a church for his family to go to, and well he said he was doing horrible at doing it, until we talked to him on the street on the way to one of our appointments. So we talked to him for a little bit but commited him to come to church and gave him a restoration pamphlet and got his contact info, then he didn't come to church so we called to see what happened and he said he had an appointment at 11, and he couldn't miss it, so we set an appointment for the afternoon, and we met with him and he said he has searched his whole life since he was brought back to life in the hospital for this church, he said, "I didn't know what I was looking for but every time I went to a church it didnt seem right! But After reading about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon it is coming to me as so powerful! We then addressed it all and bore testimony and then we began teaching the first lesson filling in some gapps he had, then it just flowed into the baptismal invite and he accepted gladdly and is way excited for Aug 7 to be baptized. and well his 11 year old son will prob follow his father a few weeks later, who knows maybe his father will be able to do it for him! :) Now our miracle about church. We had the goal this week to get Tun Mynt's family to church as I felt this is the Karen Family that is going to progress the fastest. So we set our goals on that, and well, as we did, we had 3 commited to come to church once again, and as we prayed Saturday night, we plead for the desire for more to come and well then next morning we went over to make sure all was well for when the ride came, and well all was well and there was more then three kids putting on shoes and the little 5 year old girl was running around all happy, I just stayed quite as I watched them all get ready hoping they were getting ready to come to church! And well when the durango arrived the kids ran in, well ok just 6 of them, and the smile came to my face, not just the 3 kids who we were expecting (which are over the age of 8) but three younger ones as well, the happiness was knowing this was not for numbers but for this family to find true happiness, because sometimes I feel missionaries get lost in numbers. that is why when a less active family or a family with kids under the age of 8 come, I feel the real happiness, because this is something I report to the Lord and not in numbers! Well and as the kids got in the 5 year old girl got in and well, Tun Mynt tried to get her out but she bagan to cry and scream and I tried to tell him it was ok for her to go with us. So Tun Mynt ran inside and got changed really fast and joined his kids to come to church! So behind the seens the 13 year old daughter kamootoo, pumped her brothers and sisters up for coming to church the night before! The Young womens president has been doing great in fellowshipping this young woman. We filled up a whole pew! And the kids are amzing they were all reverent for the most part. even the 5 year old girl. Then came the time for our speakers, we had the chance to hear from the stake president, who talked on the subject of having refugees as investigators and the blessing god is waiting to give them and gave councel on how to help them progress! Amazing talk, but sadly during it, the two older boys ages 8 and 11, had a little argument which sent fist flying, and then Tun mynt be on the opposite side, started to telling them to stop, so to get it stopped fast, and to bring reverence fast I reached over the four people between me and them grabbed one by the arm and pulled him over and sat him in between me and his dad! Tun Mynt laughed and said Dahblue, which means thank you, and then i look over in the front to see the branch pesident laughing at me. Probably not appropriate for a missionary to do, i know, but hey it worked! :/ Then we got everyone to their class, and then during the third hour, in priesthood the Elders and high priest where getting off topic and going way to deep about useless junk so I pull Elder Kwok and Tun Mynt out of class and we go for a walk around the church, first to primary, where we sneaked in the back unnoticed to see his kids actively involved in primary, and having fun, then we go to the Young Women's class and show him his daughter laughing and having a bast in young womens learning about divine nature! Then show him the Young mens room where his older boys would go and then we peaked into the relief society room window to see the moms studding together, telling him this is where his wife would go. then we went back to priesthood and said this is tun mynts class, then he laughingly says tahpootow, which means old man, and I say yupp the old man class! and we both laugh! Then we had our chinese investigator Wang Rui, well actually its Elder Kwok and Elder Omer's investigator, I just did the first hello! haha. Well she was set to come to the branch until saturday then a time issue came up and well she canceled but Elder omer thought fast and invited her to the ward, and so she came to the ward! And she brought her 6 year old girl too, who made it through the first hour of primary but then joined mom in Relief society in the third hour. but yeah so our week brought many miracles! And was such a blast. Elder Kwok we are doing pretty good, something I have learned this week is to be more open with him. With me being sick I like to cover up and act like I am not, but when it comes down to it, I know when its enough and well its surprising to him, because he just doesn't understand how weak I feel! So its really my fault for pretending and hiding how i really feel from him, so he peob is way confused how I am normal at one point and then the next falling asleep at my desk while filling out teaching records! Haha! I have been able to get to my personal study around 8:20 lately depending on when Elder kwok gets out of the shower. so I am getting more of a study in my Book of Mormon! So yeah its been going great I am having the time of my life. Remember to make it a great week, and thank you so much for all your prayers they truely help a ton.
Love,
Elder Derek Allen

The week in La Salle

My mono is annoying, with the sore throat, sometimes ear ache, and just my body is so tired but my brain wont give up, so when its time for me to lay down my brain wont shut off. but i kind of ignore it and push on! Haha, you know me, it takes a lot to stop me from doing what i want! i am too suborn. Right now we are doing great. Had a really spiritual week! We got 3 new investigators with only 10 hours of finding which to me is really the Lord blessing us in the work. Its crazy how much the spirit guides us in the finding, I have really learned how to depend on him more in the past 6 months. I mean I thought i knew how to follow his promptings before, but i think i made it more complicated then it is. Especially in missionary work he is there always. It almost I feel a brother or sister in the area I am working that is waiting for me o say hi, which helps me push forward to find them! This week we met a man, who was in a low. His name is William, we were tracting. And well we were at a door, that showed ever sign of not being home, and well I felt like I should keep knocking, not knowing why. But after being on this door longer then I would before, we turn to leave and there is a man right there, who we say hi to, and he pores out to us about his cancer and how he has turned to alchol, but wants to find God, wants to be ready to go back to him! But yeah so we taught him and it went well, and then the next day he was at our branch picnic. the picnic went great. We had 8 investigators come to it! and plus a ton of their kids who are younger then 8! And well I brought my remote helicopter and gave all the kids a chance to fly it, they loved it. then the primary did there thing and gave out Popsicles and then I came with a soccer ball and we started playing soccer. However playing that got me tired and way worn out, and well at the point of me trying to get somewhere to rest, i got tackled by the primary! If I was in full energy i prob could have taken care of it, but they took me down and I just layed there! Haha. Then three came to church! It was way fun, and I cant wait for this week, we are going to try really hard to get the whole family on board and to come to church all at once! instead of doing it in shifts, once we have that going we want to set with a solid date! But yeah that is life is the La Salle area.

The adventures of Kwok and Allen

Elder Kwok is a blast to serve with, we are just loving it here. We tract, and meet a ton of people and its way fun. We found two great people to teach this week by tracting. One is a single guy in his 50s that has a smoking problem, but he was great, so we contacted him as he was getting out of his car, and he pushed us away, and you could just see that he was struggling, so we offer to help him, and then ask if we could come back and offer some service, he smiled at that and asked for our number, so we gave it to him. and said our goodbyes. then off to the next door, then after no answer at the door, we see him come back out, and he tells us he knew they were not home but he needed time to think if he wanted to talk to us. And then he pulls out a Finding Faith in Christ pass along car that was given to him in 2004, It was stained from seeing a ton of cig. smoke, but no tears in it at all, he said he keeps it on his fridge to remind him that he has a savior that loves him, and well he invites us inside, and we had a great lesson with him, he has a strong spirit and he is fighting off a whole lot, the only thing that beats him is the smoking. Then we met another guy and answered his million questions and taught him about the restoration on the front steps of his porch, we couldn't go inside he had a little daughter running around ready for bath! So tracting paid off well for the week. Now the second source of finding this week was contacting downtown, which is always fun. there are a ton of people down there! And well we taught a few people down there too, so there was a homeless guy sitting there drinking a beer, and well he said I could say his name. David. So David is there drinking, and we come over and ask how he is doing, he answers us in his bad language, and Elder kwok in his pure innocent English says you shouldn't say those words, and David apologizes, so we talk and ask hi if he is ready to fix his life, and he is taken back by the question and thinks and says i am not sure... So we tell him, David we are just guides, we cant do anything more then just help you, and teach you, you have to be ready to fix your life and come closer to Jesus Christ's teachings. he says I am not sure I am ready, so as we are about to close our conversation another man comes up and says hi to the three of us, he is a little cleaner. So we say hi back, then he turns to Elder Kwok, and says, Elder Kwok, i tell you what, I got a deal, we leave Elder Allen here to talk to David, and you go over there and talk to me, I see fear come into my companion's eyes, so I ask the man, where over there is and I see it is a bench a little bit down the road, so I answer for poor Elder Kwok, and give this man permission to take my companion. However as they leave I switch side of David, so I could keep an eye on them because the fear in my companions eyes have me worried, but as I see them talking and Elder Kwok come to ease I continue to talk to David, about his dinking and how it was bad, so Elder kwok can teach this other man, needs to say, we are not meeting with David again, but Elder kwok taught this humble man who truly our Father in Heaven prepared for Elder Kwok to teach. The guys mother is from Hong Kong. We have an appointment to meet with him this week. Now our third way of finding, at 8-9 now this late at night we run into families putting their kids to bed while tracting, so we tried downtown, but that was a bad idea, as there were people heading to clubs and not nice to us, so we went by the river, and we find people fishing, so we contact them and we have had many teaching chances there, one was this Asian guy, who was way nice. he was actually a former, we taught a little about the purpose of the Book of Mormon and going to church and how they will help him. He committed to come to church in two weeks and also gave us his number. To top that off he gave us 4 nice size fish that were still alive to take home, and a lot of mushrooms, from the market. So as it was time to go in we went in and gutted out fish after our nightly planning. It was fun for all four of us to work together cleaning these fish! Guts were everywhere.
I know that Elder Kwok and I are here for a reason and sent here by God. I am so grateful to be my Lords servant. I know that the message we share is true. And it can help with the trials we face in our daily life. i love you all so much and hope you have a great week, because elder Kwok and I are having the time of our lives.

Your, son, brother, grandson, friend.
Elder Derek A. Allen

This is an email I received from a ward member from Elder Allen's mission. I loved it and thought I should share it with you all on his block. Thank you so much Brother Archer for sharing!


HI there,

My name is Neil Archer I am a member in the Bracebridge ward where your son is currently serving. My son turned 9 not long ago and had an reptile party to celebrate it. You son was invited and I snapped a few pictures. You can be proud of your missionary. He is serving honourably here in Muskoka. I am rather fond of having him around and will miss him when he leaves. We sang I know my Redeemer lives on the Easter sunday with my brother whom is a less active. It was just uplifting. Lot of wet eyes in the building that morning. It has been a privilage to have him around and hope when he is finished serving he will come and visit.

Kindest regards,


Bro. Neil Archer

The First Epistle of the Elders to the Dead Letter Writers

Chapter 1
In the beginning was the mailbox and the mailbox was void of letters.
2 And the missionaries said, "Let the box be filled," and the box was not filled.
3 And the missionaries beheld the continuing void and were not pleased.
4 And lo, it was the first day of the week and there was no mail delivered, but this was good.
5 But on the second day was the mail delivered; yet the box remained empty.
6 Yea, even from the second day unto the seventh was the mail delivered.
7 Even so, the box retained its void.
8 And yea, great mists of darkness spread forth from the void and enshrouded the missionaries. Yea, and did bring much sadness to their otherwise cheery days.
9 Even the long hours of fruitless tracting, being attacked by the fowls of the air, and being pursued by the beasts of the field were not as disheartening as the lack of blessed objects known as letters.
10 Yet they persisted.

Chapter 2
And, Lo, on the second day of the second week the mists still encircled the mailbox.
2 And on the third day, from within the depths of the void was a single postcard.
3 And this postcard put forth a ray of light that pierced the darkness and overcame the mists.
4 And the missionaries were well pleased, and there was much rejoicing.
5 But alas, their exclamations of joy were in vain. For the postcard was for someone else.
6 But if their joy was so exceedingly great over someone else's mail, how great would be their joy at partaking of their own mail?

Chapter 3
But some will say, A letter. A letter. We have already written a letter. We have no need to write any more leters.
2 Know ye not that there are more days than one, and more events than one in a day? Why think ye that these events need not be reported?
3 Yea, and ye need not worry that your letters will go unanswered.
4 But you should say, I will go and write the letter that a missionary requests. For I know that he giveth no requests except he be prepared to speedily respond.
5 And we give unto you the parable of the self-addressed envelopes.
6 When the missionary departed into the far off land he gave a certain number of self addressed stamped envelopes to his friends.
7 Unto one he gave five, unto another he give two, and unto the third he gave one.
8 And while he was gone, he that was given the five envelopes wrote five letters, thenin his zeal wrote five letters more.
9 The same with him that had two envelopes; He wrote two letters and then two letters more.
10 But he that was given the one self-addressed envelope became slothful and careless. And he lost the envelope, even that which he was given.
11 And when the missionary came home he went unto his friends. And he that had written ten letters was warmly greeted.
12 The same with him that had written four letters.
13 But he that had written none at all was given nothing more than a fishy, wimp-like handshake.

Chapter 4
And the missionary said unto his friend; lovest thou me?
2 And the friend said, of course I love thee. Then the missionary said, fill my mailbox.
3 He saith a second time, friend, lovest thou me? And the friend said thou knowest that I love thee. He then said, fill my mailbox.
4 He then spake a third time saying, lovest thou me? And the friend said, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
5 Then the missionary said, stuff my mailbox.
6 And the vision is become unto all as the words of a letter that is sealed in the envelope that men deliver to one who is not serving a mission saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is not mine.
7 And the letter is delivered to him that is serving a mission saying, read this I pray thee; and he saith, why sure.
8 Therefore you should proceed to do a marvelous work for a missionary, even a marvelous work and a wonder by writing a letter.

written by THE MISSIONARIES OF THE TEXAS SAN ANTONIO MISSION

The week of Elder Allen

Well unlike the rest of you we had a warm week! It was nice I was sweating! Now you will think I am crazy when I say it was -1, you just get used to the -30 plus wind chill and well it gets to -1 and you are all warm! We had a slow week, most of it was spent in Sudbury! I hate driving down there, now hate is a very strong road, but the 4 hour drive is not just long, but on a narrow windy road that has Moose, that like to jump in front of you, and kill! Haha, or at least that is what everyone tells us, calling us crazy for leaving at 5, the time it gets dark to drive down there. It is really hard plus because there is no home for the 250 Ks down there, but one gas station halfway there! So if you got to go, which happens, you put on you boots grab some TP and walk your way into the woods, except this time I had to grab a flashlight out of our winter survivor kit! Then when you get there you are just tired and want to go to bed, so you do! This time all the beds were full, it was Zone Conference! And Elder Allen was apostate, he forgot his razor in Timmins, and is too cheap to go buy a new one so he goes unshaven to Zone Conference, plus I knew I was going down to Sudbury so I held off on my laundry to save 10 bucks, saying that I have enough clothes to last me two weeks without doing laundry, but my two weeks were up and I had to wear a way dirty white shirt to Zone conference, then to top it off we were asked to write a two min, talk on a Christlike attribute for Zone Conference, then right before we headed down They said they wanted them written on paper, eh I thought, I don't have the time I will write it in my mind, which I did, except in Zone Conference we were asked to pass our papers in! Ugh, my heart dropped it felt like High School all over again, the days of the Math teacher asking us to turn in our Math homework, except this time I think I was the only one who didn't pass my homework in! The Assistants found me after Zone Conference to ask me where mine was and I smiled and said, "Not here, I will have to fax it to you." Wow i guess somethings never change, one day Elder Allen will be responsible. So it would have been responsible of me to have written it after Zone Conference, but it was next to impossible, with Elder Rumsey around. To top it off Elder Rumsey and I were going on exchanges the next day, However the next morning I had to use the washroom, and while taking care of business I wrote down my feelings and went upstairs to fax it away to the mission office! The exchange went great, Elder Rumsey and I are really just best of friends and I hope to be able to serve with him someday. The the time came to leave for Timmins, and as we left I noticed we were out of gas! So we had to get gas, which took some time! Then we were on the road and as we hit the nothingness of the 144, it started to snow of course! This poor little Texas driver had no idea what to do, so he just kept driving, and hoping it would let up, the road came to a point of where it was all white and all i could see was the yellow lines peeping through the snow! Perfect I thought, as snow jast came a racing towards me, I am going to die in this blasted snow! However a quick prayer in my heart helped me to press forward, then the snow let up a little, so it was easy to see, the white snow and, the snow started to get of the yellow lines, so I drove in the middle of the road, because then I knew I was on the road, and there was no one else on the highway so I had no worry of getting hit, drove this way for the majority of our ride home, then as we got really close to home the snow picked up again, but this time we were close to home and so all was well, well I am proud to say we made it home safe, at 10:30 Sat night, and were really glad to hit the hay! Fast Sunday was really good we had like 60 people in Sacrament meeting, which is way better then our norm of 45, If only all 200 members would come, that would be nice.
Well that was the week of Elder Allen, hope you enjoyed it, maybe I will have more next week! Until then take care and God Bless! i love you yall and take care.
Love,
Elder Derek Allen

Another Freezing Week

Wow, it is now the coldest time of the winter! And of course I am as far North as we go here in the Canada Toronto West Mission. We also have a very large area, in which some areas you have to take a train to get to, others you have to jump on a plane. However Elder Stacey and I will not be getting on the polar bear express or on a plane, as far as I know, however there was another town two hours north of us we did go visit this week! It was a great trip that turned out well. We went to a town called kapuskasing, were there were 11 less active families! Most of which were part member families! It was fun talking to them, most of them want us to come back and teach the rest of their families. Hopefully we will get some more kilometers so we can! It has been really cold so we taught a lot of members, and had a few hours of finding, but over all it was way fun! Hope all is well for everyone else!
Love,
Elder Derek Allen

A great Week in Timmins

Wow Timmins is starting to grow and i am not sure if I am ready! The Lord's work is now moving forward and we are teaching a whole lot of (9) fun people. We met this group of young friends who thought we were just crazy for being out knocking on doors at -40, they they hurried us inside, and we had a good talk. they gave us a great compliment saying they have talked to missionaries before, but they seemed like they were just throwing stuff at them, and how they like how we actually talked to them! We are meeting with all three of them this week on Saturday! Elder Stacey is doing good, he is a little shy at times, but is becoming more bold all ready! He listens and is not afraid to try new things. I really think that is all Timmins needs is a little bit of a spin, so we thought of how we can do this and stay warm at the same time. Sense it is like -40 up here right now! Well here in Timmins there are a lot of members, but few people who come to church. A lot of the people that don't come to church are in a part member family! So we have created a drop by binder of part member and former investigators and we do just that all day. Drop by a bunch of people, then of course to meet someone new we knock on the door to the right. We started that just on Saturday and we ended up gaining four new investigators. It is coming mostly from the extra effort of talking to everyone we see as we are dropping by. Its as if the Lord knows we are going to be by this house at this time and puts someone there. Well on Saturday I finally gave up and called Sister Carroll about my hemorrhoids that were not getting better, so i went to the hospital, a thing I hate doing, because it is a waste of finding, so i prayed about if I should go and asked Elder Stacey for a blessing, but the prompting came loud and clear, that I needed to be going to the hospital. So we went to the ER and in the waiting room we see a inactive member who we have been trying to get in contact with. He married a non member and has two non member kids! So we talked in the little time we had, just friendly chit chat, then he got called in, and I felt like hitting myself in the face for not setting up an appointment, so i prayed for a second chance. I was then called in, and was places in a room and on the other side of the curtain was this non active member. So while waiting for the doctor I started talking to him about his scripture reading and prayers. He said he needs to to better, so we talked about why its so important to read your scriptures and to pray everyday, and I asked, "Will you do it this week?" he replied, "yes, yes I will" Then I followed up with to see when we can come over and visit with his whole family and he loved the Idea and we are going over this week to meet his whole family! The Lord really does lead this work. The doctors appointment was pretty pointless for me, he just gave me meds that I already had and sent me on my way but I was able to talk to someone that I needed to talk to. Ok so a funny story now, we were dropping by someone that was investigatoing the church 4 years ago, we didnt think they lived there anymore, but decided to try anyways. Our knock was answered by this native woman who rushed us into her house, as Elder Stacey was trying to take off his boots, she hollered at us to not be scared and sit in the living room. Now being way confused, she then sayed I need you here now, for Satan is in my home right now! Then went on to tell us how her daughter and her boyfriend were fornicating in her house and how she was kicking them out because it was a bad thing to do! i then saw a poor little baby and a toddler who where kids of these two adults getting kicked out of the house. My heart then became sad. I asked the daughter if we could help in anywhay and she said my mother would not like it all if oyu helped me! Knowing now we were in a bad situation I knew we had to get out but this woman would not let us out. my poor companion looked freaked out. Especially when the woman called the cops to get her daughter and boyfriend out of her house. In my mind I am thinking great now the cops are going to show up and we are stuck in this crazy house! So we kindly told the lady we had to go, hoping there would be tender mercy to let us free of this mess, however she replied no you are going to sit down and read me something from the bible! So we sat down and read the last chapter in proverbs! Hahaha, sorry I shouldn't laugh! Anyways the cop shows up and he says we can leave and we are thankful, but however this woman would not let us go, finally she was loosing it and we took the chance to give her a pass-along card and slide out the door! Pretty crazy, eh! My studies are going great I feel though, I am learning my purpose as a missionary and ready to do anything the Lord has for me to do. Well thank you for your time in reading this, I love you and have a great week!
Elder Derek Allen