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