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